Web service competition: a new approach to service selection

As the number of web services that offer similar functionality increases, more sophisticated techniques for service discovery and selection will be needed. Traditional approaches compare web services based on their description published in service registries which include QoS and price/performance ratios, as well as adaptability. This information is generated by the service developer and may not be fully trustable by the client. Moreover, alternative services perform differently in different client contexts that cannot be determined accurately by service descriptors. In this paper, we propose a novel service selection approach that compares alternative services based on their performance in a specific client context. For this purpose, we extend the SOA infrastructure model through a component named the competition desk, that holds a competition among alternative services taken from the service client. As a result, clients can choose the service that works best for their needs.