Sun and Microsoft Face-off in Web Services Debate

On March 10, the School of Business hosted a debate between representatives of Sun and Microsoft on the future of web services.  The School of Business was one of only a handful of schools in the nation chosen to host the debate.

Representing Sun in the debate was Joseph Williams of Sun Professional Services. Williams is the author of three books and  several research articles on information technology challenges and opportunities. He has played a significant role in architecting, designing and implementing Sun's SunT  Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) web services practice as well as key Sun ONE solutions for several of the company's largest customers.

Representing Microsoft was Gerry Miller, Microsoft's chief technology officer for the US Central Region. Gerry joined Microsoft in 1999, after 8 years as President of The Clarity Group, a Boston-based technology consulting firm.  He has worked on the architecture of computer technologies from the C++ language (as part of the ANSI/ISO committee) to UDDI. In addition to advising the world's top corporations on IT strategy and enterprise architecture, Gerry also appears regularly in the media discussing how Microsoft's technologies fit in today's corporations.

The debate was hosted by the Association of Information Systems Professionals (AISP) and Information Systems Program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. Students, faculty and staff and area business leaders are invited to attend.

According to Williams, "This debate is much bigger than Sun vs. Microsoft. We need to be thinking in terms of finding the best technology that will fuel the next wave of services and drive our economy."

The candid debate and presentations, although technical in nature, are promised to be informative and entertaining, as each presenter validates the challenges, opportunities and competitive advantages of their respective company's approach to web services.

A key point of the debate was that information technology is still in a state of chaos due to challenge of legacy systems and that web services will help companies make sense of that chaos. Acting as the glue amidst the chaos, web services allow companies to focus on the business services and processes they are aiming to deliver as opposed to the applications, systems and technologies that power the services.

For more information, please contact Steve Tuschy, event project manager ( srtuschy@wisc.edu ) , or Andrew C Jakubczak, associate director, Information Systems Program ( ajakubcz@wisc.edu , 608-262-0975).

Supplemental Info Links: