Introduction to semantic web services and web process composition

Abstract

Systems and infrastructures are currently being developed to support Web services. The main idea is to encapsulate an organization's functionality within an appropriate interface and advertise it as Web services. While in some cases Web services may be utilized in an isolated form, it is normal to expect Web services to be integrated as part of Web processes. There is a growing consensus that Web services alone will not be sufficient to develop valuable Web processes due the degree of heterogeneity, autonomy, and distribution of the Web. Several researchers agree that it is essential for Web services to be machine understandable in order to support all the phases of the lifecycle of Web processes. This paper deals with two of the hottest R&D and technology areas currently associated with the Web - Web services and the Semantic Web. It presents how applying semantics to each of the steps in the Semantic Web Process lifecycle can help address critical issues in reuse, integration and scalability. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.