Web services has been heralded as the greatest thing since the last great overhyped technology (pick your favorite). In the year or two since Web services arrived as a mainstream technology, some have touted that the technology spells the end of middleware altogether because it leverages freely available open standards. Why would CIOs pay a middleware vendor for what they could do themselves with a minimum of fuss, using connections already built into every application they own?In fact, reports of the demise of middleware are not just exaggerated, they are completely incorrect. First, Web services by definition is a subset of and complement to traditional middleware, rather than a mutually exclusive technology. Most middleware customers today are evaluating how to inject Web services into existing environments to achieve ever greater speed and efficiency. And many longtime middleware vendors are looking to move their products into a Web services space, sometimes by providing the management tools necessary to properly orchestrate Web services. (It’s one thing to say that two Web services will talk nicely to each other; it’s another entirely to make a few dozen of them work effectively together.)For another thing, Web services is an unproven technology that is still at the early adopter stage. The Web services honeymoon is not yet over. Web services often uses a polling architecture in which the Web service polls the legacy system to access its data. That can add up to a major performance hit on the mission-critical mainframe systems. And when you open up a critical system to a Web application under Web services, security issues are bound to arise?issues that must be addressed before Web services can hope to completely take over as the next evolution of middleware. -L.G.P. Related content BrandPost Are tech layoffs inevitable, or can your company avoid them? Despite tech industry layoffs, one ITSM company remains committed to growth and expansion of internal teams. The company’s successful endeavor is largely credited to one difference between TOPdesk and other tech organizations. By TOPdesk Mar 30, 2023 6 mins IT Leadership Analysis CIOs must evolve to stave off existential threat to their role With LOB leaders learning tech faster than CIOs gain business-savvy, IT leaders must strengthen advisory skills, build relationships, and embrace strategic transformation before losing out to business counterparts. By Yashvendra Singh Mar 30, 2023 10 mins Roles Opinion 5 ways AI will transform CRM Recent announcements by Microsoft and Salesforce on how they’re ramping up integration of AI tools into their software offerings mark the start of a revolution in the CRM marketplace. By Martin De Saulles Mar 30, 2023 4 mins Channel Sales CRM Systems Artificial Intelligence Interview From CIO to CX SVP, Cisco’s Jacqueline Guichelaar takes a road less travelled By David Binning Mar 29, 2023 7 mins Careers IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe