Articles by Norbert Mikula

Quintessent Web Services

Wed, 01 May 2002 00:00:00 EDT

WSJ's Industry Editor, Norbert Mikula, recently spoke with Dave Deutschman, chief technology officer of Quintessent Communications, headquartered in Seattle, WA., about their entry into the Web services market.

Secure Web Services

Fri, 01 Mar 2002 00:00:00 EST

Security concerns, especially since the events of last Fall, are at the center of many industry discussions. Ever-increasing reports of hacker activities and security holes in well-known software products further fuel the debate, and rightfully so. Web services is a great new technology that will form the underpinning for electronic business of the future. So making Web services secure should be, and is, one of the activities our industry needs to focus on most. Beyond the very basic aspects of security, reliability, authentication and nonrepudiation issues, however, another related issue also deserves to be looked at: trust.

Only at first glance...WSJ makes some sense of it all

Fri, 01 Feb 2002 00:00:00 EST

There are plenty of jokes regarding the world of standards development, from 'Standards are like sausages - you're better off not knowing how they were created' to the old-time paradox: 'The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.'

(Wireless)Web ServicesOnly a Piece of the Puzzle

Fri, 11 Jan 2002 00:00:00 EST

Why Bother? When I was asked to focus this month's column on the subject of wireless and Web services, my immediate reaction was 'Why bother?' If you follow industry press and talk to prospects and customers, it seems that the brave new world of Web services is number 11 on the list of top 10 priorities for the wireless strategies of corporate IT managers and CIOs. Bandwidth, coverage, and device proliferation (and their associated management headaches) seem to be the real issues (or at least my top three) that bother folks today, and not some great new plumbing.

Creating the Semantic Web with RDF

Mon, 03 Dec 2001 00:00:00 EST

For a few months, I was a member of the W3C RDF-Schema WG, so I looked forward to reviewing Creating the Semantic Web with RDF. I couldn't wait to see how the potential of RDF and the semantic Web would be explained without creating major digestive problems and headaches (or unintentionally developing a drug-free cure for insomnia).In general it was a pleasure to read this book by Johan Hjelm. It starts with the subject of metadata, what RDF is, and how RDF-Schema fits into the picture. The discussion is comprehensive, even if sometimes a bit lengthy for my taste. As a 'bonus track,,' you'll find a brief introduction to XML.

Web Services - What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Mon, 03 Dec 2001 00:00:00 EST

Most of the major providers of development platforms have already started shipping development tools for Web services. It seems inevitable that everyone will jump on the Web services bandwagon in the not-so-distant future. However, in the minds of many there are still lingering questions: Why bother? What can I do with Web services that I couldn't do before? And maybe even more relevant: How can I do it better? This month we'll examine how Web services can help companies cut costs, create new revenue sources, and ultimately improve their bottom lines. As part of this discussion, we'll reintroduce a term that's once again in the hearts and minds of all IT executives: ROI - Return on Investment. We'll look at both sides of the equation, 'return' as well as 'investment.'

Mission Critical Web Services

Fri, 30 Nov 2001 00:00:00 EST

Web services are a great vision to talk about. as evidenced by the increasing number of companies declaring themselves the leader in the Web services market. Hype aside, just as with XML, sooner or later we'll all realize there's no Web services market per se but only ways to apply Web services as part of B2B machine-to-machine integration, enterprise portals, knowledge management, marketplaces, self-service forms, and so on. In other words, what we need to focus on is how to use Web services to solve specific technical problems rather than getting excited about new and more dynamic 'plumbing.'

Groundhog Day

Sun, 21 Oct 2001 00:00:00 EDT

So here we are, more than four years since XML (eXtensible Markup Language) first saw the light of the public day. We have come a long way since the early days. The XML hype started with a small group of experts who argued that SGML wasn't suitable for Web-based publishing and that HTML is pure evil anyway. Today, top-level executives of larger and smaller companies around the world announce that XML will solve all the problems of the world, including, but not limited to, the common cold.

XML-Based Enterprise Information Portals

Thu, 15 Jun 2000 00:00:00 EDT

E-business, B2B, enterprise information portals (EIPs) and XML are the leading buzzwords of our industry because information - and its efficient management - is at the heart of any e-business environment. XML is the standard for the markup of information in Web-based Internet/intranet and extranet applications and this article provides future users of XML with a blueprint of how to make the best use of these new and converging technologies.

Transforming the World with Web Services

Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 EST

Since I successfully left behind the nightmares and terrors of chemistry class when I graduated from high school (and I want these experiences to stay where they are, buried in my subconscious), let's focus on the second meaning of catalyst, 'an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action.' The history of the recent i-tech world is rife with stories about technologies that brought about change, dramatic change. Let's look at a few we are all familiar with: HTML, XML, and, of course, Web Services.