Patent ID: 7802007

Claim:
A services network for providing access to a plurality of services by a plurality of users in communication with the services network and having associated client machines, each of the plurality of users being associated with one of a plurality of independent enterprises and including consumers of the plurality of the services, the plurality of services being controlled by a plurality of independent service providers and employing a plurality of interfaces at least some of which are not directly interoperable, the system comprising: at least one data store having a first directory stored therein which maps an identity corresponding to each of the users to a policy framework which defines access policies relating to the services, the identity for each user identifying the associated enterprise, the at least one data store also having a second directory stored therein which identifies the plurality of services and at least one connector for facilitating consumption of each of the services via the network by consumers associated with a corresponding one of the enterprises, each connector being operable to mediate communication protocol and business policy differences between a first end point on the network associated with the corresponding service and one or more different end points on the network associated with the corresponding enterprise, wherein at least some of the services have two or more different connectors configured to facilitate consumption of the services by consumers associated with different ones of the enterprises, the different connectors reflecting the different communication protocols and business policies of the different ones of the enterprises; and at least one computing device which is operable to connect with each of the client machines and each of the interfaces associated with the services, and to selectively facilitate consumption of the services by the consumers associated with the plurality of independent enterprises with reference to the directory and the policy framework, thereby enabling the consumers associated with different ones of the enterprises to independently access the plurality of services using the services network, the at least one computing device further being operable to provide access to the second directory and, for each of selected ones of the connectors, provide information accessible via the second directory regarding how to use the connector to consume the corresponding service, the selected ones of the connectors including a first connector that includes a first communication protocol by which one or more of the consumers associated with a particular one of the enterprises may communicate with the first connector, the first connector being operable to translate communications between the first communication protocol and a second communication protocol associated with the service corresponding to the first connector.