Web Services Specifications: The Vendor View

Web services adoption continues, but it is taking a long time to work out all the specifications and standards. Vendor support is a big part of determining which specifications last and which don't. For architects and developers, it is important to have clear knowledge of where vendors stand on particular specs. But when Forrester recently surveyed 33 vendors about their support for SOA and Web services specifications, the big winner was "I don't know" — in 57% of the survey responses, vendors either made no statement about support or were merely investigating the specification in question. Out of 115 specs in our survey, only 34 gained support from more than half of surveyed vendors. Some of the major vendors have comparatively broad or narrow support for emerging specifications and standards.