The present invention relates to techniques for providing interoperability between and among disparate entities, applications and services in a network environment. More specifically, embodiments of the invention provide policy management techniques which facilitate such interoperability despite differing policies associated with the different entities, applications services.
Network communications between different enterprises are typically handled using ad hoc solutions. That is, if two enterprises want to communicate efficiently over the Internet, one will typically have to conform to the requirements of the other. Such requirements may relate, for example, to network communication protocols (e.g., FTP vs. HTTP), or to higher level policy issues (e.g., encryption).
WS-Policy allows providers of web services to define policies for anyone wanting access to their services. A web service provider publishes a WS-Policy description of a service (e.g., on its web site) so that potential consumers of the service can determine whether they are going to be able to consume the service or not. Thus, consumers of such web services are forced to conform to the policies of the service provider, regardless of their own technology or policy constraints. Given the number of partners or customers with which the typical enterprise would like or is required to communicate, such ad hoc approaches are simply no longer practicable.