webServices alliance could be big brand con

A group shrouded in secrecy by its creators, but due to be unveiled tomorrow to oversee the development of the up-and-coming webServices protocols may be nothing more than a cheap branding ploy.

The alliance, created by Microsoft and IBM, is supposed to aid the creation of webServices, a set of internet protocols touted to be able to change the programming world.

webServices are designed to make online work between companies cheaper and easier to allow small organisations to compete on a more even footing with top dogs.

However, the catchy titled Web Services Interoperability Organisation is not necessarily in the standards' best interests, according to Butler Group research analyst, Alan Lawson.

Lawson said: "This alliance is Machiavellian manoeuvring rather than a technological breakthrough.

"The big guys are getting a strangle hold on this emerging market which may create concerns for the future of keeping the webServices standards open. Stamping their finger print all over this model will lock in customers that don't look deep enough."

webServices are a set of protocols developed on the back of Microsoft's Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), that wraps around differing technologies to communicate without sharing programming languages.

Neither IBM or Microsoft were able to comment on the alliance.