Web Services Contest Winners at Midnight Madness
Technical innovation and business applicability rise to the top in the XML Web Services contest.
by Terrence O'Donnell, XML Magazine, and Jeff Hadfield, FTP Group Publisher

VSLive! SF, Day 3, February 14, 2002 — Tonight's Midnight Madness—the most free-form session of VSLive!—will feature four of the winners of the recent Microsoft Web Services contest, each showcasing his award-winning Web Service, built on Microsoft technology. (The evening will also feature John Lam on Aspect-Oriented Programming in the .NET CLR, BJ Holtgrewe on Microsoft MapPoint, and a spirited VB vs. C# debate from industry legends Dan Appleman and Gary Cornell.) The winning Web Services contest presenters—Scott Zimmerman, Jacob Sherman, Rob Chartier, Steve Braha, and Joe Bustos—are sure to have real-world info you'll be able to use as you plan your own Web Service endeavors.

These Web services were chosen as winners based on their business applicability, originality, demonstration of Web services concepts, and technical excellence, among other criteria. Let's take a detailed look at these winning Web Services entries.

Figure 1. Online Manager

Data on the Go
Web service: Enterprise File Manager
Functionality: Provide online storage and backup, allowing customers to collaborate with co-workers securely.
Developer: Scott Zimmerman, StoragePoint.com
Key technologies: Microsoft .NET: ASP.NET/C#, Visual C++/Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) library/Active Template Library (ATL), SQL Server 2000, Internet Explorer, ActiveX, Microsoft SOAP Toolkit, MSXML, and ISAPI.
Profile: The incentive for Enterprise File Manager was the perception that knowledge workers need to access critical business documents from any location, using any PC, and that they require the ability to share documents securely with co-workers and clients. Also, many small and medium-size businesses need a more convenient method of data backup and security. The 5.0 version of StoragePoint's Enterprise File Manager was developed exclusively with Microsoft .NET technologies to benefit customers with faster time-to-market, a new SOAP interface for automatic backups, ActiveX storage, custom applications developed by third parties, and enhanced ease-of-use and performance (see Figure 1). Customers can use the service for online backup and secure collaboration with co-workers and clients. Enterprise File Manager also provides account management and reporting features for customers that license the platform to run on Windows 2000 Server and SQL Server 2000.
For more information: www.storagepoint.com.