By Staff
Wednesday, October 05 2005 08:05 PM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39274014,00.htm

SINGAPORE--Web services adoption by businesses in the island-state now stands at 14 percent, up from 8 percent in 2003, industry officials say.

During an industry seminar promoting Web services Tuesday, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) noted that the technology has generated S$450 million (US$265 million) in infocomm revenue last year and created more than 290 jobs in Singapore.

The IDA has been fueling Web services development in Singapore by seeding intellectual capital, research and development, as well as infrastructure-building under its Weave (Web Services Add Value to Enterprises) program.

According to IDC, US$2.3 billion was spent worldwide on acquiring Web services software last year, more than twice the amount in 2003. The analyst firm also expects spending in Web services to increase over the next five years, reaching US$14.9 billion by 2009.

Said Chan Yeng Kit, chief executive of IDA: "Web services adoption has grown not just in numbers, but deeper and more extensively into key growth industries."

During the seminar, participants were given a glimpse of how Singapore Airlines adopted Web services for its KrisFlyer frequent-flyer program. Through Web services, KrisFlyer members are able to access integrated services such as miles redemption and transfer, across member airlines of the Star Alliance.

Other adopters of Web services include Singapore's port operator PSA, with its PortNet system that reduces documentation among shippers and logistics providers, and OCBC Bank, which uses Web services to bridge legacy systems for better work and business integration.

To further boost Web services in Singapore, IDA and the industry have been working together to build the necessary manpower through the Certified Web Services Professional (CWSP) certification program. So far, 633 IT workers have received the certification, and more than 400 people are expected to earn the CWSP over the next three years, the IDA said.

In another development, IDA, Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) and 18 technology vendors have collectively established the region's first Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Center.

The S$2.5 million (US$1.5 million) center, when completed over the next three months at NYP, will allow Web services solutions providers to test cross-platform applications. The center aims to test 60 projects in the next two years.

At the seminar, Chan also announced Singapore's co-chairmanship of the Oasis Framework for Web Services Implementation Technical Committee.

The committee, Chan added, provides guidance to the creation of re-usable Web services components as well as implementation of Web services-enabled applications. The specifications have been submitted to Oasis, and are currently undergoing public review, he said.