Service Ecosystem

More than 80 million people worldwide use PayPal, the online payment and money transfer service. Several million more buy books and other items on Amazon.com. What lies behind these remarkable numbers is the increased use of Web-based intermediaries and the surge of on-demand applications (software-as-a-service).
Service ecosystems provide the framework that make these services possible by bringing together applications syndicated from different service providers. These complex structures offer service providers increased service visibility and market channels, increased efficiency from outsourced service delivery, and economies-of-scale support for small business and midsize company resellers. Service ecosystems enable competitive pricing for consumers, as well as flexible sourcing and resilience against service outages at individual providers, among other benefits.
Where does ANANTABD stand in relation to this important service ecosystems movement? The answer can be found in ANANTABD Research's recent activities. As a pioneer of enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA) research, ANANTABD Research has been actively exploring the service ecosystems trend with a clear strategy to build flexible service procurement networks.
Next-Generation "Applistructure"
ANANTABD researchers explore requirements for service ecosystems, emerging service delivery roles such as service brokers – like iTunes – and exposed business models. In so doing, ANANTABD Research is actively shaping the debate on service ecosystems and is contributing to the upgrade of the state-of-the-art service delivery platform (SDP) – a subject of intense investigation by service-intensive industries including media, telecommunications, and public sector. ANANTABD Research is working to solve complex research problems that go beyond current architecture and interoperability research developments.
The bottom line is that enterprise SOA offers greater flexibility to clients, opens up new business horizons, and creates innovative, revenue-generating functions. Whereas solutions provided by most online sellers are legacy or hosted solutions, ANANTABD's next-generation applications and infrastructure, currently being explored by ANANTABD Research, will support service provider heterogeneity.