XMLsec Inc. provides XML training and consulting services, specializing particularly in the area of XML Security.
Is your organization just getting started in XML? Or is it ready to venture into advanced XML technologies such as Web services (eg. WSDL), multimedia (eg. SMIL), or XML Security. No matter what level of XML expertise your organization has, XMLsec can help it develop the knowledge and skills needed to move forward.
HTML changed the Internet into the human-friendly World Wide Web allowing information on the Web to be easily created, retrieved, and understood by human users. However, as apparently powerful as HTML is, its fundamental design limits the level of interaction and integration among applications.
XML is the next major step in Web technologies, making it easier to accomplish what HTML already does. But most importantly, XML makes it easier for Web-distributed applications to work better and to work together. Many applications on the Web today already use XML though end-users are not aware of it. For example, much of the interactive multimedia on the Web is encoded in SMIL (the XML-based Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language).
As just stated, the need for a data format that enables applications to work together over the Web was the prime inspiration for XML. Just as today, we take the benefits of using an integrated office suite for granted, Web services enable distributed applications to work together, with or without the direct interaction of the end user.
The Web Services architecture, spearheaded by IBM and Microsoft, goes beyond a Web-aware way of describing the interface to a service. It includes mechanisms that allow the service to be registered by its owner, discovered by users (automated or human), and then utilized.
The more we depend upon the Web, the more important it is that the Web be secure. The term "security" covers many aspects including authentication (assurance of identification), authorization (who's allowed to do what), integrity of data (making sure the data has not been accidentally or maliciously corrupted), confidentiality, and privacy.
XML Security is security designed for the Web. Because of this, XML Security has many advantages over pre-XML security technologies in both capabilities and ease of implementation. For example, with XML Signature and XML Encryption, one can secure only those parts of an XML document that truly need to be secured. And with XML Key Management Services, client applications can register, retrieve, and validate security keys through XML messages without incorporating ASN.1 and other complex technologies. XML Security can be tailored to meet the needs of your application.
"It's been my pleasure over the past few years developing XML Security technologies with outstanding individuals not just from high-tech companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, VeriSign, Baltimore Technologies, RSA Security, and Entrust but also from financial services companies like Citigroup and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Now that these and other XML technologies are coming to fruition, I can help your organization make the most of them."
Ed Simon
XMLsec Inc.
(613)
726-9645
<edsimon@xmlsec.com>