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Web services are responsible for what some have described as a "seismic shift in computing." The growth of Web services is, in turn, being attributed to efforts and participation within the European Union. The E.U. seems to have surpassed the U.S. in this respect.

Carine Bournez, a technical coordinator on the WS2 project, spoke to GRIDtoday about the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). "We evaluated the impact of the project by monitoring European participation in the various W3C working groups we support," she said. "We measured up to 70 percent European participation in these particular groups - North American participants are usually the majority."

"These results are impressive," the GRIDtoday article explained, "precisely because standards development is such an arduous and lengthy process. However WS2 has very effectively spurred communities and companies to action. The project achieved these impressive results by organizing conferences, hosting a seminar and demonstrating example applications."

The article also offered more specific information about those results. "WS2 has boosted European participation in the Web Services Choreography Description Language working group . . . . It has also boosted participation in the Semantic Web Services Interest Group . . . . And the project's work has helped to create the Semantic Annotation for Web Services Description Language (SAWSDL) . . ."

Another quote further emphasized the E.U.'s role in this field. "Input from European industry is very important at this point in time," Bournez said. "European industry is well positioned as an advanced user of the first layers of web service technologies, but has been less of a producer of these first bricks."

"Participation in the standardization process for recent technologies is critical if we are to take the lead in the web services deployment area," Bournez concluded.

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Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.