Leveraging Web-Services and Peer-to-Peer Networks

Two of the most recent and popular topics in computing are service-oriented computing (exemplified by web-services) and peer-to-peer computing. Peer-oriented computing is an attempt to weave inter-connected machines into the fabric of the Internet. Web-services, on the other hand, are a more formal technological challenge, an attempt to apply a service-oriented computing model to web resources to provide a loosely coupled paradigm for distributed processing. Despite the fact that these two concepts have some significant amount of overlap, e.g., each seeks to become a common means for publishing and discovery across networks, their current manifestations still remain quite diverse. In this paper we highlight key intersect points that enable possibilities for using these two technologies together. Moreover, we present an architectural approach and formal framework towards unifying them to provide essential functions required for automating e-business applications such as e-marketplaces and service exchanges.