How web services is changing the face of e-commerce

For more information on this item please visit the CANARIE CA*net 4 Optical 
Internet program web site at http://www.canarie.ca/canet4/library/list.html
-------------------------------------------

[Good article on how web services is allowing for more machine to machine
e-commerce transactions.  With the new Grid web service standards (WSRF)
these concepts can be also extended beyond the retail on-line shopping
industry to process control and manufacturing industries as well e.g. oil
and gas, pulp and paper, distributed power, environmental industries, etc.
Thanks to Darcy Quesnel for this pointer -- BSA]

http://www.internetweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=25600346


Amazon and eBay, Inc. have cemented themselves as hubs of commerce when 
it comes to consumer online shopping. Now they're emerging as hubs of 
software-development activity, where openness breeds innovation and 
innovation generates sales. "We think Web services feeds directly into 
making that flywheel spin faster," Vermeulen says.

Here's a measure of how important this open approach has become to eBay: 
About 40% of the items listed for sale on eBay's U.S. site come in 
through its API. That means two of five products are loaded onto the 
site software-to-software, rather than manually posted using a 
browser-based form. Major retailers are taking advantage of these tools, 
and software companies are hustling to make their tools fit the model.

Working on Amazon or eBay platforms lets individual programmers or some 
independent software vendors tap functions beyond what they could in 
isolation. "This is part of a shift that's going on in what the ISVs in 
the world look like," Montgomery says. "EBay, PayPal, and Amazon today 
run Web sites that move money and goods around. At the same time, they 
offer functionality that can be used independently of their sites. These 
types of functions are becoming more woven into the fabric of how people 
think about applications." EBay's Web-services platform, for example, 
lets hobbyist developers access things they use repeatedly: software for 
hosting catalogs, running virtual shopping carts, and processing payments.



-------------------------------------
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the CANARIE-NEWS list please send e-mail to:

[email protected]

In the body of the e-mail:

subscribe news
end

-------------------------------------

These news items and comments are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect
those  of the CANARIE board or management.


---------
[email protected]
+1.613.944.5603