The UDDI framework allows you to discover services or interfaces of a particular type, classification, or function. UDDI also defines a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that applications and services can use to interact directly with UDDI data. The UDDI Project is an industry initiative that is working to enable businesses to find and transact with each other quickly, easily, and dynamically. UDDI will benefit businesses of all sizes by creating an open, global, and platform-independent architecture for describing services, discovering those services, and integrating businesses that use the Internet. Any type of service can be registered in the UDDI Registry, such as manual services and electronic services, but the main intention behind UDDI is to provide a global registry for Web Services.
UDDI allows a company to describe its business and its services. UDDI brings full high visibility to businesses by providing a means for an organization to advertise its business and services on a global registry. The UDDI Registry provides a place for a company to programmatically describe its service processes and preferred methods of conducting business. UDDI helps clients meet the competition head-on. Nowadays, organizations find it difficult to find a business that offers the services that best suit their needs. UDDI makes it possible for organizations to quickly discover the right niche among the millions currently online. Once an organization finds a potential business partner, there is no standard mechanism for figuring out how to do business electronically with this partner. UDDI can simplify the effort of integrating disparate business processes, so partners can get up and running quickly and easily.
The UDDI Business Registry contains information on business entities. A business entity represents information about a company. Each business entity contains a unique identifier, the business name, a brief description of the business, basic contact information, a list of categories and identifiers that describe the business, and a URL that points to more information about the business. Associated with the business entity is a list of business services offered by the business entity. Each business service entry contains a business description of the service, a list of categories that describe the service, and a list of pointers to references and information related to the service. Again, associated with each commercial service entry is a list of binding templates that point to specifications and other technical information about the service.
UDDI is a joint initiative of interested companies that want to advance Internet-based computing. UDDI member companies have come together to develop an open specification and implementations of a universal business registry that is capable of integrating e-commerce sites. This specification will be submitted to a formal standards body. The UDDI Business Registry is operated as a distributed service. A complete set of registered logs is available to everyone. Access to and from the UDDI Business Registry is via Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). However, a service registered in the UDDI Enterprise Registry can expose any type of service interface.
The UDDI specification leverages World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards, such as Extensible Markup Language (XML), HTTP, and Domain Name System (DNS) protocols. Additionally, the UDDI specification addresses cross-platform programming capabilities by adopting the proposed SOAP messaging specifications found on the W3C website.
In short, UDDI can help an organization expand markets, improve efficiency, and reduce costs by paving the way for the global Internet economy.
UDDI Business Registry is a forum where companies and organizations can share and discover web services. This public registry is maintained and replicated by its managing body, the UBR Operators Council.
UDDI services provide UDDI capabilities for use within an enterprise or between business partners. A person or user can query UDDI Services for information from the Web service. Any partner or organization with which web services data will be shared must be part of the User group.