"There is something very fitting about using Web Services to deliver the results of a referendum," according to Annraí O'Toole, CEO at Cape Clear Software. "Here we have a technology that is taking the integration process out of the hands of a few and making it available to the many. Web Services is simply removing the cost and complexity of integrating applications and data sources. The result is that we can now enable a host of new services, just like the referendum results, at a fraction of the cost and time of traditional alternatives. Web Services change the focus from what can you do, to what do you want to do."
The Swedish Election Authority is running two applications: first, the Voter Statistics application presents the number of voters divided by county and municipality. Second, the Election Results application then provides up-to-the-minute information on the number of votes for and against the referendum. These votes are also broken down by district and include information on which districts have finished their counting process.
The Web services that are employed by the applications retrieve data from XML files over the Internet and then distribute that information to clients via the Internet. The applications themselves are built in Java and are deployed using Cape Clear's Web Services platform. Init has also published sample clients online for Microsoft Excel, Java, and Perl.
Quelle: ebizQ
