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The Future of Business Services Networks (BSN's)

SOA7.com is an innovative Application Service Provider (ASP) that delivers software components on a Pay-Per-Use basis using XML Web Services and Business Process Execution Language (BPEL).

Our ASP business model is a special form of On Demand software delivery known as a Business Services Networks (BSN). BSN's are IT infrastructure intermediaries that provision application components, such as Web Services, on a pay-per-use basis. They offer a new framework for software vendors to launch Service Oriented Computing (SOC) ventures by using BSN’s to sell their software with an On Demand business model.

Success Factors for BSN's

The key to growing profitable BSN’s is be to build upon and further enable the implementation of related IT best practices. These practices will become critical capabilities demanded by business adopters.

First, BSN’s will need to work in sync with the rapid adoption of BPM. While the most sophisticated BSN’s are implementing processes using such technologies as BPEL, they still do not provide a fully integrated BPM platform. As such, they must create the necessary tools allowing users to automate several BPM functions such as: (1) analyze their requirements and match them to network resources, (2) model their business processes in a complete architecture, (3) define key operational conditions for processes, (4) execute their processes on the grid, and (5) monitor and manage processes in real-time. Nevertheless, BSN’s represent one of the most promising approach to develop and implement a full-fledged, virtual BPM System (BPMS), which are now a core feature of the IT infrastructure in moving from basic workflow engines to more intelligent and event-driven management of the process lifecycle.

Second, by providing a rich platform for developing and automating the deployment of new processes, BSN’s open the door to the extensive implementation of the MDA. The MDA, as defined so far by the Object Management Group (OMG), has been focused on converting object oriented software models (e.g., Unified Modeling Language or UML) to platform specific models (e.g., J2EE, .NET, etc.). Yet a debate is emerging on how to extend the MDA standard to encompass the composition and automated deployment of processes. The MDA as implemented today already allows the consumption of web services, message oriented middleware, and distributed components. It is therefore attracting significant attention as a valuable stepping stone towards a complete object-process composition tool for SOA implementation.

Third, BSN’s must be able to perform a full range of integration mechanisms to ensure a seamless migration towards the SOA. Processes should be easily discovered, composed and executed using evolving combinations of data sources, message queues, web services, processes, applications, end-user interfaces, and legacy systems. As such, BSN’s must adopt what the Integration Consortium defines as a Global Integration Framework (GIF). A new framework is needed for the particular virtual runtime environment of BSN’s, one that would provide for a truly technology-neutral semantics to ensure interoperability between various integration standards. Standards in this field are still in development, but efforts in the semantic web and grid services are demonstrating the feasibility of a technology-neutral architecture.

Fourth, as a complete approach to the SOA, BSN’s are essentially attempting to become a full solution for Enterprise Architecture (EA). Whether based on standard or custom frameworks, any EA effort that seeks to implement the SOA will need to adopt new governance approaches. As such, this is likely to require profound changes in how BSN’s market their services to business adopters. It is conceivable that this emerging industry could rapidly consolidate due to the need for developing one-stop shops, similar to the economies of scale that dominate the outsourcing industry.

Fifth, since they extend the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) of each network participant, third-party networks such as BSN’s must remain reliable and competitive in terms of pricing and legal environments. This requires a constant refinement and customization of Service Level Agreements (SLAs). It also requires a more careful coupling between a BSN’s Business to Business (B2B) transaction management and monitoring, and the legal and economic constraints of particular industries or application domains. As well, since BSN’s provide an exceptional profit opportunity to software vendors, they must carefully define how all partners can benefit from Utility Computing, On Demand, or Pay-Per-Use business models. As such, BSN’s represent a new form of e-marketplace where IT resources and business services are the commodities exchanged, and therefore new contractual, accounting, and financial evaluation standards and processes are needed to govern this new exchange of value.

Overall, these 5 critical success factors may vary from one BSN to another, depending on the target industry, the scope of services provided, the relative importance of automation for end-users, etc. But it is clear that like any other emerging industry, BSN’s will need to carefully identify and customize these and other factors in further refining their business model.

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