IESR: UDDI Summary Report

UDDI (Universal Discovery, Description and Integration) is an OASIS standard, or to be more accurate, several generations of standard. The UDDI initiative was designed to provide specifications for several technologies intended for the purpose of building registries of web services. Initially, the intent was to permit a centralised registry service (an "Internet white/yellow pages" as it were) though the emphasis later moved onto the provision of distributed registry services. The standard covers both registry design and query methods, though it leaves open the possibility of using a number of different methods of service description. Phase 2 of the IESR included a research work package, led by UKOLN, in which the possibility of making IESR metadata available using a UDDI registry was investigated, along with alternative models for the delivery of the registry. Current developments in related arenas, such as the Grid, were also monitored as part of this work package.