MTOM OVERVIEW
With web services-based SOA now being deployed across Global 2000
enterprises, transmitting attachments such as MRI Scans, X-Rays, Design
Documents and Business Contracts using SOAP messages has become a
common practice. SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM),
is a W3C Recommendation designed for optimizing the electronic
transmission of attachments. Through electronic transmission of
documents, corporations can realize significant cost savings and better
service levels by eliminating the use of postal mail. Paper-based
manual tasks can be replaced with simple and efficient electronic
processes where binary data can be transmitted between organizations
through standards such as MTOM.
MTOM provides an elegant mechanism of efficiently transmitting
binary data, such as images, PDF files, MS Word documents, between
systems. The Figure below shows the steps involved in transmitting data
between a Consumer and Producer using MTOM.
The Consumer application begins by sending a SOAP Message that contains complex data in Base64Binary encoded format. Base64Binary data type represents arbitrary data (e.g., Images, PDF files, Word
Docs) in 65 textual characters that can be displayed as part of a SOAP
Message element. For the Send SOAP Message Step 1 in the Figure above, a sample SOAP Body with Base64Binary encoded element <tns:data> is as follows:
