A Model for the E-Service Marketplace

HP's E-Services vision presents a new model for electronic business. First, it forsees a marketplace that supports the acts of brokering and auctions and that enables the dynamic creation and fulfillment of agreements for E-Services. Second, in order for E-Services to be brokered automatically (without human intervention), it must be possible to construct connections between E-Services dynamically. Third, the EServices must have some means of being represented (or of representing itself) in "loosely coupled interactions" (for example, in an auction). That is, the e-services vision forsees an established electronic marketplace in which contracts can be automatically negotiated and E-Services can be dynamically composed. This paper proposes a model for E-Service marketplaces. We define key elements, roles, and objects, and discuss the responsibilities and collaborators for each role and object.