Exclusive: Systinet reins in Web service registries

Replication and Integration
Systinet Registry 6.0 can be used in a stand-alone mode, but many organizations will want to operate more than one registry in an effort to serve specialized needs.

Free IT resource TechNet: More ways to know it, share it, and keep it running. Sponsored by Microsoft Free IT resource Attend the SOA Executive Forum: Breaking SOA Bottlenecks SOAExecForum.com/may2007 Sponsored by InfoWorld Systinet Registry 6.0 Systinet, systinet.com Very Good  8.1 criteria score weight Interoperability 8 20% Manageability 9 20% Reporting 7 15% Scalability 9 15% Security 8 10% Setup 9 10% Value 6 10% Cost: Typical installation starts at $40,000 to $80,000 Platforms: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1; Solaris 9; Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2000, Windows XP Bottom Line: Systinet Registry 6.0 provides a solid platform for building SOA governance and establishing a system of record for enterprise Web services. Registry 6.0 will provide ROI to organizations looking to manage a diverse set of Web services across different groups and versions — but it’s pricey, especially for smaller businesses. About our Reviews and Scoring Methodology

For example, two registries can be run in tandem -- one serving as a publication registry, through which developers publish services, and another serving as the discovery registry, through which service consumers find services they want to use.

Used in this way, Systinet Registry 6.0 becomes a key part of an SOA QA program: Services are promoted from the publication registry to the discovery registry through the organization’s QA and certification process, ensuring that only production-ready services are used in applications. Systinet Registry can also be clustered to support replication for geographic dispersion, reliability, and availability. Any copy of a registry can contain all data from another registry or a subset of that data, depending on configuration.

UDDI specifies and Systinet Registry supports a standard SOAP-based API for interacting with the registry. The standard ensures that other products, such as Web services intermediaries, can seamlessly connect to Registry without a lot of integration programming. Naturally, there are Systinet-specific extensions to the interface, and Registry 6.0 provides WSDL for the base API and extensions. Systinet also includes pre-generated Java stubs, but the registry API can be used with any language that supports SOAP bindings. To give you a hand, Systinet provides a set of demonstration programs that show how to use the various features of the registry API from Java. They are easy to get running, and they show coded examples of most things you’d want to program.

A Nod to Standards
Being a UDDI skeptic didn’t keep me from appreciating the strong showing Systinet makes with this version of Registry. The application is rock-solid and performs its work admirably. Systinet Registry supports UDDI Version 3, which was released at the first of the year, as well as Version 2. Version 3 includes a number of improvements to the UDDI specification, including the ability to create more readable keys and to sign UDDI entities digitally.

Systinet Registry goes to great lengths to hide UDDI from the user; unless you’re using the API, you might not ever see it. To use the API effectively, however, you’ll need to understand the UDDI specification and data model, so expect a steep learning curve if you’re not already UDDI-savvy.

Although Systinet Registry 6.0 provides vital services for an SOA, I remain concerned about the pricing of these types of enterprise software products. Systinet’s $40,000-to-$80,000 price tag doesn’t ease my apprehension. High pricing supports big sales commissions, but it puts critical Web services apps, such as registries, out of the reach of small, innovative companies. Still, I’m confident that large companies with a commitment to SOA -- and room in their budgets -- will find that Systinet Registry 6.0 provides real ROI.