We invite comments on the definition of "data service" for the OGSA Data Architecture (and hence the OGSA Glossary).
 
Currently we're looking at something like the following:
A service that exposes the capabilities or data of one or more data resources within a service-oriented architecture.
or
A service that exposes the capabilities of one or more data resources within a service-oriented architecture.  These capabilities might include data access, data transfer or data management.
We think either of these would be a significant improvement on our previous definition.  The emphasis in these new proposals is on linking data resources into an SOA, which fits nicely with the OGSA definition of a service:
A software component participating in a service-oriented architecture that provides functionality and/or participates in realizing one or more capabilities.
Our previous definition mentioned specific types of interfaces, which we think is too specific and not resistant to change:
A service that is primarily intended to provide access to data stored in one or more data resources. A data service will provide one or more of the data access, data source or data sink interfaces defined in the OGSA Data Architecture.
Comments welcome, especially before Monday's OGSA-WG call.
 
Dave Berry
Deputy Director, Research & E-infrastructure Development
National e-Science Centre
15 South College Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AA 
+44 131 651 4039           www.nesc.ac.uk