Most Web services deployments have been rolled out without the help of big consultancies. The following companies offer the tools you need to get a handle on Web services management. [Full story at InfoWorld...]

I put this list of Web services intermediaries companies together as a companion to this article about IBM, EDS, and others offering Web services consulting: Consultancies Aim to Ease Web Services Woes.

I wrote earlier about this issue in Who's Afraid of Web Services?:

One way to mitigate issues surrounding changing standards, security, and complex deployments is to hire one of the large service companies, like IBM or Accenture, to deliver and manage your company's Web services. But what if your budget doesn't have room for a top-drawer services company? Should you just give up on Web services until all the issues get sorted out? Another route is to take advantage of a Web services intermediary such as Grand Central Communications or Confluent CORE . Web services intermediaries, offer configurable services such as logging, auditing, monitoring, alerting, authentication, and authorization. Grand Central and Confluent CORE differ significantly in how they're deployed: Grand Central is a value-added network that you subscribe to for a monthly fee and Confluent Core is a software server that you buy, install, and operate. Both, however, can be used to connect external partners and customers to your Web services flexibly, securely, and reliably.