What are Web Services and why are they needed?

IBM Master Inventor Simon Holdsworth explores:

• The challenges of connecting applications with varying platforms, designs, and run-time environments
• Communication without special knowledge of underlying hardware and software systems
• The demand for flexibility in an ever-changing world

and looks at cutting edge solutions for distributed applications to interoperate.

Simon Holdsworth is an IT Architect and IBM Master Inventor, working at the cutting-edge of IBM Web Services technology. Based at IBM UK's Hursley Software Development Laboratories, he is responsible for the overall software architecture and high level design for connectivity of one of IBM's leading software products. Simon has been designing and implementing systems that support Web Services since 2001, and during this work on leading-edge technologies, has gained 15 patents.

An alumnus of Bristol University (MSc in Mathematical Logic and the Theory of Computation), Simon joined IBM in 1990 and has since expanded and developed his software engineering expertise, working on variety of projects including mainframe assembler programming, C, C++, and Java. Outside work, Simon is a keen participant in the preservation of early home computer software.