At the core of our business lies technology. The technologies we embrace and master are major determinants of who we are and what we can become. We pick and choose technologies as carefully as we make any other investment. Following are a few selected technologies in which we are investing. We believe these are winners.

The World Wide Web is more and more used for application to application communication. Any software component that makes itself available over the Internet and uses a standardized XML messaging system may be generally considered a Web service.

Web Services are a new breed of Web application. They are self-contained, self-describing, modular applications that can be published, located, and invoked across the Web. Web Services perform functions, which can be anything from responding to simple information requests to complicated business processes. Once a Web service is deployed, other applications (and other Web Services) can discover and invoke the deployed service.

Web Services is the next "big thing" in software development. Every business will eventually become both a supplier and consumer of Web Services. Web Services will completely change the way we conduct business, far beyond the impact we've seen with e-commerce. Web Services take what HTML and TCP/IP started, and add the element of XML, to enable task-focused services that come together dynamically over the Web.

Applications access XML Web services via standard Web protocols and data formats such as HTTP, XML, and SOAP, independent of how each XML Web service is implemented. XML Web services combine the best aspects of component-based development and the Web, and are a cornerstone of the Microsoft .NET programming model.

By creating a standard way to connect disparate business systems, XML Web services are a natural solution to many integration challenges. They enable businesses to more economically connect with partners and customers; they create the opportunity to act on information from a variety of mobile devices; and they provide added flexibility to respond quickly to change. Web services currently run a wide gamut from news syndication and stock-market data to weather reports, currency exchange rates and package-tracking systems.

So, what is really new about Web services? The answer is XML. XML lies at the core of Web services and provides a common language for describing remote procedure calls, Web services, and Web service directories.

XML is the acronym for eXtensible Markup Language, the universal format for structured documents and data on the Web. XML is an industry-standard protocol administered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). XML is a key enabling technology for Microsoft .NET.

Prior to XML, one could share data among different applications, but XML makes this so much easier to do. In the same vein, one can share services and code without Web services, but XML makes it easier to do these as well.

By standardizing on XML, different applications can more easily talk to one another, and this makes software a whole lot more interesting.

Microsoft® .NET is a set of Microsoft software technologies for connecting the world of information, people, systems, and devices. .NET can help companies by enabling them to more easily integrate services and applications. Connected back-end systems provide businesses with the opportunity to combine information and more easily assist customers-whether in a call center setting or in an online Help application. A company can turn quality of service into a competitive advantage.

The Microsoft .NET Framework is an environment for building, deploying, and running XML Web services and other applications. A companion infrastructure, the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, is a set of programming interfaces that enable developers to target mobile devices like smart phones and PDAs.

Multi-tier system design logically divides computing tasks across the application. Viewed from a purely functional standpoint, most applications perform the following three main tasks: gathering user input, storing the input as data, and manipulating the data as dictated by established operational procedures. These tasks can be grouped into three or more tiers, which is why the new system design provides for three-tier, or multitier applications. The application tiers, shown in the figure below, are:

• Client Tier The user interface or presentation layer. Through this topmost layer, the user can input data, view the results of requests, and interact with the underlying system. On the Web, the browser performs these user interface functions. In non-Web-based applications, the client tier is a stand-alone, compiled front-end application.
  
  
• Middle Tier Components that encapsulate an organization's business logic. These processing rules closely mimic everyday business tasks, and can be single-task-oriented, or part of a more elaborate series of tasks in a business workflow. In a Web application, the middle tier might consist of Microsoft Component Object Model (COM+) components registered as part of a transactional application or instantiated by a script in Active Server Pages (ASP).
  
  
• Third Tier A database management system (DBMS) such as a Microsoft SQL Server database, an unstructured data store such as Microsoft Exchange, or a transaction-processing mechanism such as Message Queuing. A single application can enlist the services of one or more of these data providers.

Separating the application into layers isolates each major area of functionality. The presentation is independent of the business logic, which is separate from the data. Designing applications in this way has its tradeoffs; it requires a little more analysis and design at the start, but greatly reduces maintenance costs and increases functional flexibility in the end. The explosive growth of the Internet is a strong motivation for organizations to adopt n-tier architectures in their products.

Some of the platforms, applications and tools commonly used by CompuWork to develop and deploy solutions are:

. Windows Server 2003	. Exchange Server 2003 / 2007
. Active Directory	. Office Developer 2003
. SharePoint Technologies	. Excel
. Internet Information Server	. Outlook
. Visual Studio .NET 2005	. Access
. SQL Server 2005	. Word
. SharePoint Server