W3C Web Services Standards Approved as ISO/IEC International Standards
6 September 2011 — Today the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Joint Technical Committee JTC 1, Information Technology, of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) announced formal approval of a package of W3C Web Services technologies as ISO/IEC International Standards. As ISO/IEC JTC 1 Standards, these widely deployed technologies now benefit from formal recognition from national bodies, which will promote interoperability and reduce market fragmentation, thus benefiting all users.
"This is good news for ensuring that people can use the Web anywhere, on any device," said Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO. "The W3C Membership has demonstrated strong support for this collaboration with the JTC 1 community in order to enhance global ICT interoperability. W3C's Open Web platform is poised to be the interoperable platform of choice for an expanding Web of services, devices, and people. As these technologies become stable standards, the recognition by national bodies of W3C's community, process, and Royalty-Free patent policy will only grow in significance."
The package of W3C Web Services technologies was first submitted to ISO/IEC JTC 1 Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) in January 2011. The package included eight specifications, including SOAP 1.2, MTOM, Addressing 1.0 and Policy 1.5, which are foundation specifications for message-based service technology that has been adopted by industry worldwide. W3C has been an approved JTC 1 PAS Submitter since November 2010, and is one of eight organizations that are currently approved. Under the Publicly Available Specification procedures, organizations accredited as valid PAS Submitters can send their specifications directly to JTC 1 for national body voting to become recognized International Standards.
"ISO/IEC JTC 1 is very pleased with this first and successful opportunity to take the important work of W3C and have it transposed into formally approved ISO/IEC Standards," said Karen Higginbottom, ISO/IEC JTC 1 Chair. "We look forward to a strong and constructive relationship."
The benefits of collaboration for interoperability
W3C has developed processes and other policies that promote the development of high-quality, consensus-driven standards, many of which power the Web and enterprise computing. The ISO and IEC imprimatur increases the avenues for adoption of W3C technology and guidelines. To many national bodies, the ISO and IEC brands will be more familiar than the W3C brand. In some cases, such as procurement, a country may be required to use ISO/IEC standards. For these reasons and others, W3C believes that formal approval by JTC 1 of W3C standards as International Standards will increase deployment, reduce fragmentation, and provide all users with greater interoperability.
"As Secretariat of ISO/IEC JTC 1, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is very proud of the successful collaboration between ISO/IEC JTC 1 and W3C," said Lisa Rajchel, ISO/IEC JTC 1 Secretary. "Approval of the W3C specifications once again demonstrates strong cooperation between the formal standards process and consortia."
W3C anticipates that its next submission will be the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. To learn more about W3C and the ISO/IEC JTC1 PAS Submission process, see the W3C PAS FAQ.
About the World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 325 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/
About ISO
ISO is the world’s largest developer and publisher of International Standards. ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of some 163 countries at the end of 2010. More than 100 of ISO’s members are from developing countries. ISO has more than 18600 International Standards in its currents portfolio and ISO’s work programme ranges from standards for traditional activities, such as agriculture and construction, through mechanical engineering, manufacturing and distribution, to transport, medical devices, the environment, safety, information and communication technologies, and to standards for good practices and for services.
About IEC
The IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is the world's leading organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies – collectively known as “electrotechnology”.
IEC International Standards cover a vast range of technologies from power generation, transmission and distribution to home appliances and office equipment, semiconductors, fibre optics, batteries, nanotechnologies, solar energy and marine energy converters, to mention just a few. Wherever you find electricity and electronics, you will find the IEC supporting safety and performance, the environment, electrical energy efficiency and renewable energies. The IEC also manages Conformity Assessment Systems that certify that equipment, systems or components conform to its International Standards. www.iec.ch
List of standards
- ISO/IEC DIS 40210, Information technology – W3C SOAP Version 1.2 Part 1: Messaging Framework
- ISO/IEC DIS 40220, Information technology – W3C SOAP Version 1.2 Part 2: Adjuncts
- ISO/IEC DIS 40230, Information technology – W3C SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism
- ISO/IEC DIS 40240, Information technology – W3C Web Services Addressing 1.0 – Core
- ISO/IEC DIS 40250, Information technology – W3C Web Services Addressing 1.0 – SOAP Binding
- ISO/IEC DIS 40260, Information technology – W3C Web Services Addressing 1.0 – Metadata
- ISO/IEC DIS 40270, Information technology – W3C Web Services Policy 1.5 – Framework
- ISO/IEC DIS 40280, Information technology – W3C Web Services Policy 1.5 – Attachment
Media Contacts
Ian Jacobs, <ij@w3.org>, +1.718.260.9447
Testimonials for: W3C Web Services Standards approved as ISO/IEC International Standards
Hitachi · HP · IBM · Microsoft
Hitachi
Hitachi is pleased to see the successful approval of the Web Services Package by ISO/IEC JTC1. Our implementation of Web Services is very much dependent on these key specifications. One of the very basic specifications was WS-Addressing which Hitachi was pleased to chair and forms the cornerstone of all web services today.
Jun Abe, President of Software Division, Hitachi Ltd.HP
Hewlett-Packard applauds the endorsement of a set of W3C Web Services standards by ISO/IEC JTC 1 as a formal international standard.
The endorsement of these standards by two of the most highly respected standards organizations is certain to increase confidence in these standards by public sector and private sector customers around the world, thereby accelerating deployment of the standards for the benefit of all IT customers.
Furthermore, HP is pleased that this endorsement also represents an important first milestone in an ongoing journey of increased collaboration between these important organizations.
Dr. James R. Bell, Director of Industry Standards, Hewlett-Packard CompanyIBM
IBM congratulates the W3C and its members on the ratification of the package of eight Web services standards as ISO/IEC standards. IBM participated in the development of these key standards because of their importance to interoperability of client implementations. Now, with their formal recognition as international standards, clients around the world will be able to leverage these Web services standards to lay the foundation for the popular SOA and cloud computing technologies that are helping to fulfill the promise of the Web.
Angel Diaz, vice president, IBM Software StandardsMicrosoft
Web Services specifications are an important part of the interoperability surface for Microsoft's enterprise and cloud products. For example, Web Services specifications are used to enable Single-Sign-On experience using Access Control Services (ACS); they are also one key way for connectivity with Windows Azure applications through Windows Communication Foundation. We are very pleased that national bodies around the world have agreed to advance these specifications to become ISO/IEC Standards. Microsoft strongly endorses this vote of confidence in W3C's ability to build consensus across diverse communities and produce stable, interoperable, and useful standards.
Bob Dimpsey, Director of Development, Servers and Services- Azure Application Platform
