Hybrid composition of Web services and grid services

Web service composition is now seen as a focal point of research, especially as mechanisms for the coordination of distributed tasks are acquiring more importance. Models such as BPEL4WS can cater for local and centralised coordination. There is, however, a need to reconcile different technologies on a wider scale. This requires the development of efficient and flexible frameworks in order to ensure the optimal use and coordination of distributed applications. The work presented in this paper is concerned with the development of a compositional framework, which brings together grid services, Web services and semantic Web technology within a BPEL4WS platform. It is aimed at enhancing BPEL4WS by allowing for the hybrid composition of Web services and grid services, and by incorporating dynamic binding through agent mediation. The efficient management of workflows afforded by BPEL4WS is combined with the versatility of agent technology. An agent-based system, called SOA, was developed to support the framework.