Consulting giant SAIC has launched an initiative to create SOA interoperability standards within the energy industry. SAIC is inviting participation in this effort. The company has been working for over two years with BP and other energy companies in the definition, development and implementation of SOA interoperability standards. Earlier this year, SAIC sponsored an Energy Industry SOA Roundtable, where the need for a Web service interoperability standard was discussed. During this event, SAIC-client BP contributed a draft of a web service interoperability standard that has been adopted across the BP Group and was used as a source document for the recent PRODML V1.0 specification. A SAIC press release states that standards will enable interoperability and integration for utility companies of systems supporting the high-data volume requirements of industry initiatives such as advance metering infrastructure and automated demand response solutions.

http://www.saic.com/energy/web-service-interoperability.asp

There are interoperability options abounding these days, and Python is part of the trend. On the Java side, Jython has emerged as a useful bridging mechanism. Daniel Rubio describes some basics in employing Python within Java, which can be useful for developers that may stand to benefit from Python’s aptness for expressing some logic. - JV Read more »

We had some fun on this blog a little while ago when Huw Collingbourne ably essayed on Ruby, its place in the development world, and its possible resemblance to the original Visual Basic, as a quick, productive route to application building. See Is Ruby the New VB?  .  That post elicited worthwhile comments on TheServerSide Interoperability Blog, as well as some threads on our Mother Ship, TheServerSide.com. George Lawton recently plowed through those threads, digested them, and he now offers some views thereof in the following post.  - J.V. Read more »

Python, designed to optimize programming effort, has found its own adherents. It also has found something of a home as a cross-platform language. Versions can operate with both Java and .NET. This miniguide points you to resources for Python, including Jython and IronPython implementations. Read more »

We take a quick look at another aspect of interop tonight. People have been blogging for a while now, and their online personas are seeking to interoperate, unencumbered, with their sites and personas … Read more »

Language ‘mashups’ in .NET will become more prominent as use of the .NET DLR expands, said David Laribee. He predicts that Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) will become more common as developers become polygots, working with many languages. So, perhaps, the DSL is “The Real Juice of the DLR… Read more »

Last week the Burton Group sponsored a User-Centric Identity Interop event in Barcelona. Participants tested identity selectors and identity providers. CA, IBM, Microsoft, and WS02 were just some of the participants. A wiki outlines what happened. Included is a brief description of some profile issues. Is federated Identity on the Web someday in the offing?

http://osis.netmesh.org/wiki/I2-Barcelona

Microsoft’s Dino Chiesa recently appeared on SearchSOA.com to discuss WCF, where it is at, how it got there. He said that WCF is pegged as a generalized approach to services-oriented development. Developers of distributed systems told MS they wanted fewer programming interfaces for communications, Chiesa writes. Read more »