The web…at your service

The traditional view of web services has been focused on protocols and standards for exchanging data between applications. The primary method to exchange has been over the HTTP transport (most companies block ports in their firewalls but port 80, the HTTP/web browser used port, is always open).

But like most things in information technology, descriptions and value propositions are ever morphing and changing. Though one could argue that web services have *always* been about protocols and data exchange, they’re really about discrete applications unto themselves and only now are we starting to see the real power of interapplication operatibility via web services.

To make available powerful, deep and broad value offerings to market and encourage web service applications to be built on top of them, take a look at what these three powerhouses are up to along with a new model for managing web services:

• Amazon has exposed their application programming interface (API) making use and reuse of their powerhouse of products a fairly trivial matter. In fact, the links to all the products on my blog here are done through Associates.Amazon.com accessible through their API and every time someone clicks on a product and buys it, I get a little commission (and I’ve made $ .87 since December!).

• Salesforce.com has their platform exposed web services API called “SForce“. Many companies have extended salesforce.com and also built applications on top of their platform.

• Our pals at Google are just dying to have you create apps riding on top of their exposed API.

• One of the *most* intriguing business models is a company called Grand Central Communications (started by Halsey Minor of CNet fame) that has positioned themselves as the hub for web services.

If you want to learn a lot more, sign up for the free WebServices.org site, Joe’s set o’ links, or peek at this directory. Lot’s of good stuff.