Adding value to E-services: A business-oriented model

Much of the early research in component-based development and electronic services (e-services) has been done in the area of Open Distributed Processing. Therefore, this discussion will consider the Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) published by the ISO in order to provide a generic business model that helps to clarify the actors and relationships in the service domain. Based on the RM-ODP, this discussion also gives a more practical view about applying this business model to Web services which represent the technology of choice for application integration in cross-organisational environments. Special attention is paid to the retailer and broker roles. Service retailers add value to services offered by third-party providers. Retailers and brokers generate added value by either a) trading with the goal to discover the optimal services or b) to form composites services.This work will describe the resulting business and technical implications.