WS Reliable Messaging is a set of protocols that are designed to give different levels of assurance that a web service message really went from its source to its destination. In the context of a private network, and certainly the wider internet, such reliability is not a given.

As such, WS-RM is already a key piece of infrastructure in the products of IBM, Microsoft (e.g. Biztalk) and Tibco. It's uptake has been hampered somewhat by the fact that it was practically proprietary, and had to compete with similar specifications from others.

If the working group succeeds, that could change. The list of initial signatories certainly suggests as much: it includes IT heavyweights such as BEA systems, SAP and Sun microsystems in addition to the spec's initiators. It also includes the UK e-Government unit.