17.12.1.Concepts
Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) is the name of a web-based service that exposes information about a business or other entities and its technical interfaces or APIs. These services are run by UDDI-enabled servers, and can be used by any business that wants to make their information available, as well as anyone who wants to find that information. There is no charge for using the basic services of these sites.
By accessing any of the public sites, anyone can search for information about web services that are made available by or on behalf of a business. This provides a mechanism that allows others to discover what technical programming interfaces are provided for interacting with a business for such purposes as electronic commerce. The benefit to the individual business is increased exposure in an electronic commerce enabled world.
Businesses can register several kinds of simple data to help
others answer questions of "who, what, where and how." Simple
information about a business - information such as name, business
identifiers (D&B D-U-N-S Number(R), etc.), and contact
information answers the question "Who." "What" involves
classification information including industry codes and product
classifications, as well as descriptive information about the
services that are available for electronic interchange. Answering
the question "Where" involves registering information about the URL
or email address (or other address) through which each type of
service may be accessed. Finally, the question "How" is answered by
registering references to information about specifications that
describe how a particular software package or technical interface
functions. These references are called 'tModels
' in the documentation.