Web services drag their feet
Potential to dominate the distributed computing market in the long term
Web services may not take off as quickly as expected, but the architecture has the potential to dominate the distributed computing market in the long term, according to research firm IDC.
"The model we used looked at a long-term scenario, up to 2014," said James Weir, senior research analyst at IDC.
The firm predicted that the market for web services would grow from a current level of $108m to $7.8bn by 2007, a compound annual growth rate of 135 per cent.
"Companies will initially deploy services within the firewall. They will eventually provide services outside the firewall, but not in the near future," Weir said. He added that security was still a major concern.
At present, Weir said, web services are about connecting internal systems, rather than taking a firm's services to the outside world.
"Web services are not going to happen as quickly as people think," he said. "We were surprised that our model came out with such low numbers."
Several distributors, including Anixter, Unipalm, Ideal, Crane Telecommunications and Ingram Micro, have created web services offerings for resellers.
These include stock information and EDI translation through Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration and E-business XML.
"Web services present a security concern," said David Ellis, director of Unipalm's e-security division.
"They are concerned with an end-to-end service that is completely automated. The security concerns need to be overcome, but a lot of vendors are focused on the market. For example, Check Point introduced support for web services eight or nine months ago."
Weir said the figures should not discourage the channel. "Resellers should look at their products and offerings and not be afraid to specialise," he said.
"They should also look at how much intellectual property they want to hand over. It may be better for them to offer a hosted service or sell web services on a licence basis."