Orchestrating a set of services into an end-to-end process flow entails a new set of technical requirements (binding to HETEROGENEOUS SYSTEM, synchronous and asynchronous message exchange patterns, data manipulation, flow coordination, exception management, undeterministic EVENTS, compensating transactions, side-by-side versioning, in-flight instance management and auditing). The GOAL of BPEL is provide a richer and yet simpler abstraction/standard for ADDRESSING those requirements. Although it is a fairly new standard, it leverages from 10+ years of research and development Microsoft and IBM invested in XLANG and WSFL.

Orchestrating a set of services into an end-to-end process flow entails a new set of technical requirements (binding to heterogeneous system, synchronous and asynchronous message exchange patterns, data manipulation, flow coordination, exception management, undeterministic events, compensating transactions, side-by-side versioning, in-flight instance management and auditing). The goal of BPEL is provide a richer and yet simpler abstraction/standard for addressing those requirements. Although it is a fairly new standard, it leverages from 10+ years of research and development Microsoft and IBM invested in XLANG and WSFL.