Sun, SAP, BEA Say WSCI Is The Key To Unlocking Web Services Pushing Standard Interface Their goal is difficult task of letting diverse software work together seamlessly.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN

It's a bigger challenge than, say, crossing the Continental Divide.

Software makers realize they must find better ways to make all software work together seamlessly.

Three of the largest tech companies say they have a way to do this through a new computer interface named WSCI (sounds like whiskey). The leaders of the WSCI revolution are server maker Sun Microsystems Inc., business software maker SAP AG and middleware king BEA Systems Inc. Their fourth partner is privately held Intalio Inc. The WSCI leaders plan to announce soon that a number of other companies are joining the effort.

Their goal is elusive. But the payoff could be huge. Users no longer would be burdened by such things as duplicate passwords and redundant keyboard commands.

This Utopia of an interconnected, self-automating computing world is driven by a desire to make e-commerce easier. If universal standards can be developed, consumers should find buying goods and services online much easier and quicker. Analysts say it would spawn many Web services.

Microsoft Has Start