Abstract: Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating life-cycle management and utilization of network resources. In one embodiment, instancing, virtualization and dynamic provisioning functionality facilitating management and utilization of web services is provided. The instancing functionality supports a web services network platform allowing for registration and use of multiple instances or versions of a given web service or other network-accessible computing resource. In one embodiment, the present invention combines the virtualization and dynamic provisioning functionality to facilitate the development of client application code in routed web services network architectures. In one embodiment, a set of management functions that may be applied to management of computing resources in any IP-based network.

Abstract: Methods, apparatuses, and systems facilitating the deployment, configuration and maintenance of publication/subscription systems within the context of Web service networks. In one embodiment, the present invention provides Web services network system that presents a topic as a routing entity and includes functionality facilitating topic creation, subscription and publication in a manner consistent with the basic modes of Web services development and deployment, allowing such tasks to be approached in an intuitive, cost-effective and manageable manner. In a preferred embodiment, the publication/subscription system functionality according to the present invention is integrated into a distributed Web services network architecture as more fully described below. The Web services network architecture and integrated publication/subscription system according to the present invention can be implemented across any suitable computer network, including a local area network, an intranet or the Internet.