DMTF Chairman Mike Baskey provides an update on Distributed Management
Task Force activities: "During the past year, we've continued to
streamline the processes both within our organization and in our work
with alliance partners. We are also developing a Conformance Program
that will enable customers to test conformance with the set of standards
that DMTF and our alliance partners are defining. Moreover, we expect
to launch several key initiatives this fiscal year. In addition to the
great work within the System Virtualization, Partitioning, and Clustering
(SVPC) working group around models and profiles, we expect to publish
the Open Virtualization Format ( OVF) specification for virtual appliances.
Another DMTF initiative focuses on federation of CMDBs (configuration
management databases); we expect a preliminary release of the CMDBf
standard this year as well. The CMDBf work within DMTF will connect our
organization to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
and related process management space to increase the relevance of the
work we do in this area. A third DMTF initiative involves power and
energy management and ties into our collaborative work with The Green
Grid. This important development will improve energy efficiency in the
data center, which has great social significance as we wrestle with
the challenges in that domain... DMTF will also continue to make
significant strides in the areas of server and desktop management --
particularly in the integration of Web services into those and other
related device management initiatives. In addition, a greater degree
of interoperability and conformance testing/certification will become
a reality in this coming year -- a very exciting milestone for our
organization. We're also moving forward in getting more of the DMTF
specifications submitted to the International Standards Organization
(ISO), an increasingly important requirement as we expand our role in
the world of international standards and our industry ecosystem..."
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Semantic Web in the News
The Semantic Web has been in the news a bit recently. There was the
buzz about Twine, a "Semantic Web company", getting another round of
funding. Then, Yahoo announced that it will pick up Semantic Web
information from the Web, and use it to enhance search... Text search
engines are of course good for searching the text in documents, but
the Semantic Web isn't text documents, it is data. It isn't obvious
what the killer apps will be -- there are many contenders. We know
that the sort of query you do on data is different: the SPARQL standard
defines a query protocol which allows application builders to query
remote data stores. So that is one sort of query on data which is
different from text search. One thing to always remember is that the
Web of the future will have BOTH documents and data. The Semantic Web
will not supersede the current Web. They will coexist. The techniques
for searching and surfing the different aspects will be different but
will connect. Text search engines don't have to go out of fashion...
The Media Standards Trust is a group which has been working with the
Web Science Research Initiative [...] to develop ways of encoding the
standards of reporting a piece of information purports to meet: "This
is an eye-witness report"; or "This photo has not been massaged apart
from: cropping"; or "The author of the report has no commercial
connection with any products described"; and so on. Like Creative
Commons, which lets you mark your work with a licence, the project
involves representing social dimensions of information. And it is
another Semantic Web application. In all this Semantic Web news, though,
the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The benefit of the Semantic
Web is that data may be re-used in ways unexpected by the original
publisher. That is the value added. So when a Semantic Web start-up
either feeds data to others who reuse it in interesting ways, or itself
uses data produced by others, then we start to see the value of each
bit increased through the network effect.
buzz about Twine, a "Semantic Web company", getting another round of
funding. Then, Yahoo announced that it will pick up Semantic Web
information from the Web, and use it to enhance search... Text search
engines are of course good for searching the text in documents, but
the Semantic Web isn't text documents, it is data. It isn't obvious
what the killer apps will be -- there are many contenders. We know
that the sort of query you do on data is different: the SPARQL standard
defines a query protocol which allows application builders to query
remote data stores. So that is one sort of query on data which is
different from text search. One thing to always remember is that the
Web of the future will have BOTH documents and data. The Semantic Web
will not supersede the current Web. They will coexist. The techniques
for searching and surfing the different aspects will be different but
will connect. Text search engines don't have to go out of fashion...
The Media Standards Trust is a group which has been working with the
Web Science Research Initiative [...] to develop ways of encoding the
standards of reporting a piece of information purports to meet: "This
is an eye-witness report"; or "This photo has not been massaged apart
from: cropping"; or "The author of the report has no commercial
connection with any products described"; and so on. Like Creative
Commons, which lets you mark your work with a licence, the project
involves representing social dimensions of information. And it is
another Semantic Web application. In all this Semantic Web news, though,
the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The benefit of the Semantic
Web is that data may be re-used in ways unexpected by the original
publisher. That is the value added. So when a Semantic Web start-up
either feeds data to others who reuse it in interesting ways, or itself
uses data produced by others, then we start to see the value of each
bit increased through the network effect.
Tim Berners-Lee and Distinguished Faculty to Present at LinkedData Planet
Ken North has provided updated information about the summer LinkedData
Planet Conference. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the W3C, will deliver
a keynote and a distinguished faculty will deliver a content-rich technical
program at in New York City (June 17-18, 2008). Besides the keynote, there
will be a Linked Data Workshop and a Power Panel. The conference is
co-chaired by Bob DuCharme and Ken North The evolution of the current Web
of "linked documents" to a Web of "linked data" is steadily gaining
mindshare among developers, architects, systems integrations, users, and
the more than 200 software companies developing semantic web-oriented
solutions. Organizations such as Adobe, Google, OpenLink Software, Oracle,
the W3C, and the grassroots Linking Open Data community have actively
provided technology and thought leadership during the embryonic stages of
this evolutionary transition. Notable examples on the Web today include,
DBpedia, the Zoominfo search engine, the Bambora travel recommendation
site, a number of social networking sites, numerous semantic web
technology-based services, various linked data browsers, SPARQL query
language and protocol-compliant data servers and data management systems,
and a growing number of web sites exposing machine-readable data using
microformats, RDFa, and GRDDL. The LinkedData Planet audience will include
system architects, enterprise architects, web site designers, software
developers, consultants and technical managers, all looking to learn more
about linking the growing collection of available data sources and
technologies to get more value from their data for their organizations.
Planet Conference. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the W3C, will deliver
a keynote and a distinguished faculty will deliver a content-rich technical
program at in New York City (June 17-18, 2008). Besides the keynote, there
will be a Linked Data Workshop and a Power Panel. The conference is
co-chaired by Bob DuCharme and Ken North The evolution of the current Web
of "linked documents" to a Web of "linked data" is steadily gaining
mindshare among developers, architects, systems integrations, users, and
the more than 200 software companies developing semantic web-oriented
solutions. Organizations such as Adobe, Google, OpenLink Software, Oracle,
the W3C, and the grassroots Linking Open Data community have actively
provided technology and thought leadership during the embryonic stages of
this evolutionary transition. Notable examples on the Web today include,
DBpedia, the Zoominfo search engine, the Bambora travel recommendation
site, a number of social networking sites, numerous semantic web
technology-based services, various linked data browsers, SPARQL query
language and protocol-compliant data servers and data management systems,
and a growing number of web sites exposing machine-readable data using
microformats, RDFa, and GRDDL. The LinkedData Planet audience will include
system architects, enterprise architects, web site designers, software
developers, consultants and technical managers, all looking to learn more
about linking the growing collection of available data sources and
technologies to get more value from their data for their organizations.
Finding the Right ID
As Microsoft looks to advance its interoperability initiative, CardSpace
(the company's identity-management framework) promises to play a key
role in providing authentication between Windows and .NET-based
applications on the one end, and the Web, open source technology and
other key enterprise software platforms on the other. Microsoft lowered
a key barrier by adding support for the recently upgraded industry
standard OpenID specification into its CardSpace client identity-management
framework. Still, it could be some time before developers are called on
to use OpenID and CardSpace for cross-platform enterprise applications.
CardSpace is a key component of Microsoft's .NET Framework 3.5 and is
supported in Internet Explorer 7 and Windows. It's built largely on
Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), serving as the
identity provider. While OpenID provides single sign-on to social
networking sites and blogs -- letting users log in one time to employ
a public persona across multiple sites -- it's not robust enough to
support government applications, casual Web surfing, financial
transactions or private data access. Microsoft's Chief Identity Architect
Kim Cameron has said in his Identity Weblog that the company is
interested in OpenID as part of a spectrum of solutions. But Cameron
has written that unlike redirection protocols such as SAML, WS-Federation
and OpenID, CardSpace limits the amount of personal information users
need to give out, making Web surfing more secure. Microsoft describes
CardSpace as an identity selector -- the user creates self-issued cards
and associates a limited set of identity data with each. The CardSpace
user interface is security-hardened, and the user decides what
information will be provided.
(the company's identity-management framework) promises to play a key
role in providing authentication between Windows and .NET-based
applications on the one end, and the Web, open source technology and
other key enterprise software platforms on the other. Microsoft lowered
a key barrier by adding support for the recently upgraded industry
standard OpenID specification into its CardSpace client identity-management
framework. Still, it could be some time before developers are called on
to use OpenID and CardSpace for cross-platform enterprise applications.
CardSpace is a key component of Microsoft's .NET Framework 3.5 and is
supported in Internet Explorer 7 and Windows. It's built largely on
Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), serving as the
identity provider. While OpenID provides single sign-on to social
networking sites and blogs -- letting users log in one time to employ
a public persona across multiple sites -- it's not robust enough to
support government applications, casual Web surfing, financial
transactions or private data access. Microsoft's Chief Identity Architect
Kim Cameron has said in his Identity Weblog that the company is
interested in OpenID as part of a spectrum of solutions. But Cameron
has written that unlike redirection protocols such as SAML, WS-Federation
and OpenID, CardSpace limits the amount of personal information users
need to give out, making Web surfing more secure. Microsoft describes
CardSpace as an identity selector -- the user creates self-issued cards
and associates a limited set of identity data with each. The CardSpace
user interface is security-hardened, and the user decides what
information will be provided.
W3C XML Query Working Group Invites Comment on XQuery Working Drafts
Members of the W3C XML Query Working Group have published two First
Public Working Drafts: "XQuery Scripting Extension 1.0" and "XQuery
Scripting Extension 1.0 Use Cases." The XQuery Scripting Extension 1.0
specification defines an extension to "XQuery 1.0: An XML Query
Language" (W3C Recommendation") and "XQuery Update Facility 1.0
(W3C Candidate Recommendation). Expressions can be evaluated in a
specific order, with later expressions seeing the effects of the
expressions that came before them. This specification introduces the
concept of a block with local variable declarations, as well as several
new kinds of expressions, including assignment, while, continue, break,
and exit expressions. The "Use Cases" document provides the usage
scenarios that motivate the changes developed in the XQuery Scripting
Extension (XQSE).
Public Working Drafts: "XQuery Scripting Extension 1.0" and "XQuery
Scripting Extension 1.0 Use Cases." The XQuery Scripting Extension 1.0
specification defines an extension to "XQuery 1.0: An XML Query
Language" (W3C Recommendation") and "XQuery Update Facility 1.0
(W3C Candidate Recommendation). Expressions can be evaluated in a
specific order, with later expressions seeing the effects of the
expressions that came before them. This specification introduces the
concept of a block with local variable declarations, as well as several
new kinds of expressions, including assignment, while, continue, break,
and exit expressions. The "Use Cases" document provides the usage
scenarios that motivate the changes developed in the XQuery Scripting
Extension (XQSE).
Working Group Formed to Support ODRL Service (ODRL-S) Profile
On behalf of the ODRL Initiative, Renato Iannella announced the
formation of a new ODRL Services (ODRL-S) Profile Working Group,
chartered to develop the semantics for licensing Service-Oriented
Computing (SOC) services. The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL)
Initiative is an international effort aimed at developing and
promoting an open standard for rights expressions. ODRL is intended
to provide flexible and interoperable mechanisms to support transparent
and innovative use of digital content in publishing, distributing and
consuming of digital media across all sectors and communities. The new
profile will build upon prior work completed at the University of
Trento on service licensing. The WG will develop an ODRL Profile that
extends the ODRL language to support the SOC community requirements.
The profile will address the core semantics for the licenses to enable
services to be used, reused, and amalgamated with other services. By
expressing the license terms in ODRL, greater features can be supported,
such as automatically detecting conflicts in service conditions, and
making explicit all requirements and conditions. ODRL-S is designed
as a complementary language to describe licensing clauses of a service
in machine interpretable form. The salient features of ODRL-S are as
follows: (1) ODRL-S unambiguously represents service licensing clauses --
based on formalization of licensing clauses; (2) ODRL-S is simple yet
powerful and fully extensible language; (3) ODRL-S can specify licenses
at service level and service operation level; (4) ODRL-S can be used
with any of existing service description standards and languages; (5)
ODRL-S is developed as a completely compatible profile with ODRL for
describing a service license.
formation of a new ODRL Services (ODRL-S) Profile Working Group,
chartered to develop the semantics for licensing Service-Oriented
Computing (SOC) services. The Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL)
Initiative is an international effort aimed at developing and
promoting an open standard for rights expressions. ODRL is intended
to provide flexible and interoperable mechanisms to support transparent
and innovative use of digital content in publishing, distributing and
consuming of digital media across all sectors and communities. The new
profile will build upon prior work completed at the University of
Trento on service licensing. The WG will develop an ODRL Profile that
extends the ODRL language to support the SOC community requirements.
The profile will address the core semantics for the licenses to enable
services to be used, reused, and amalgamated with other services. By
expressing the license terms in ODRL, greater features can be supported,
such as automatically detecting conflicts in service conditions, and
making explicit all requirements and conditions. ODRL-S is designed
as a complementary language to describe licensing clauses of a service
in machine interpretable form. The salient features of ODRL-S are as
follows: (1) ODRL-S unambiguously represents service licensing clauses --
based on formalization of licensing clauses; (2) ODRL-S is simple yet
powerful and fully extensible language; (3) ODRL-S can specify licenses
at service level and service operation level; (4) ODRL-S can be used
with any of existing service description standards and languages; (5)
ODRL-S is developed as a completely compatible profile with ODRL for
describing a service license.
Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) Specification Version 2.0
OASIS announced that the membership has voted to approve Version 2.0 of
the "Web Services for Remote Portlets Specification" as an OASIS Standard,
updating the WSRP Version 1.0 OASIS Standard published in August 2003.
The goal of the specification is to enable an application designer or
administrator to pick from a rich choice of compliant remote content
and application providers, and integrate them with just a few mouse
clicks and no programming effort. The OASIS WSRP Technical Committee
was chartered to standardize presentation-oriented Web services for use
by aggregating intermediaries, such as portals. The TC members work
to simplify the effort required of integrating applications to quickly
exploit new web services as they become available. WSRP ayers on top
of the existing web services stack, utilizing existing web services
standards and will leverage emerging web service standards (such as
policy) as they become available. The interfaces defined by this
specification use the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). WSRP
version 2 extends the Version 1.0 definitions to support more advanced
use cases, providing: (1) coordination between components, (2) the
ability to move customized portlets across registration and machine
boundaries; (3) a mechanism for describing protocol extensions; (4)
support for leasing of resources; (5) in-band means of getting resources;
(6) aupport for the CCPP protocol (device characteristics). WSRP Version
2.0 consists of a prose specification that describes the web service
interface that is exposed by all instances of compliant Producers as
well as the semantics required both of the service and its Consumers,
together with a WSRP version 2 XML schema, WSRP version 2 portTypes
(WSDL), and WSRP version 2 bindings (WSDL).
the "Web Services for Remote Portlets Specification" as an OASIS Standard,
updating the WSRP Version 1.0 OASIS Standard published in August 2003.
The goal of the specification is to enable an application designer or
administrator to pick from a rich choice of compliant remote content
and application providers, and integrate them with just a few mouse
clicks and no programming effort. The OASIS WSRP Technical Committee
was chartered to standardize presentation-oriented Web services for use
by aggregating intermediaries, such as portals. The TC members work
to simplify the effort required of integrating applications to quickly
exploit new web services as they become available. WSRP ayers on top
of the existing web services stack, utilizing existing web services
standards and will leverage emerging web service standards (such as
policy) as they become available. The interfaces defined by this
specification use the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). WSRP
version 2 extends the Version 1.0 definitions to support more advanced
use cases, providing: (1) coordination between components, (2) the
ability to move customized portlets across registration and machine
boundaries; (3) a mechanism for describing protocol extensions; (4)
support for leasing of resources; (5) in-band means of getting resources;
(6) aupport for the CCPP protocol (device characteristics). WSRP Version
2.0 consists of a prose specification that describes the web service
interface that is exposed by all instances of compliant Producers as
well as the semantics required both of the service and its Consumers,
together with a WSRP version 2 XML schema, WSRP version 2 portTypes
(WSDL), and WSRP version 2 bindings (WSDL).
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