For Christmas this year, I got just what I asked for - a new gadget. I collect gadgets, so this was nothing new, but this gadget has altered the way I live; I now live with a BlackBerry on my hip.

I have resisted the temptation to "converge" my PDA and phone for any number of reasons. The previous generations of so-called "smartphones" either didn't seem very smart or weren't much like phones. In fairness, my point here isn't that Research in Motion Ltd., the makers of the BlackBerry, has single-handedly changed the face of converged communications devices. Many of the new generation of "smartphones" have overcome the shortcomings of their predecessors. It's just that I finally found the integration of phone and PDA something worth investing in. It seemed seamless.

You might be wondering at this point if you picked up the wrong magazine. What could this have to do with Web Services and why is it in the security issue? The answer is the new paradigm.

The term "new paradigm" gets thrown around a lot. I've used it a lot myself, but with my new Christmas gadget, I came to a whole new appreciation of what "a new paradigm" can mean.

First of all, I found out what "connected" really means. It's amazing to be able to get an e-mail while touring Edinburgh Castle, though not particularly appealing to my travel companions. I also got better acquainted with the "always-on" nature of business these days and the odd schedules of some of my co-workers. Nothing's more startling than getting notified at 2am that a new e-mail has arrived on one of the four accounts you have feeding your BlackBerry (I quickly learned to turn those notifications off - especially at night). All in all, though, I've found my new gadget irresistible. It's made me more productive at work and more connected with my family, and I foresee even greater potential.

Since my job is security, I also thought about my new gadget's other implications and my new way of life. My e-mail is now being propagated to multiple servers and across the airwaves. BlackBerry's manufacturer and the service providers claim its secure, but it still gives me pause. I realize that the same "push" technology that gets my important e-mail delivered to my hip wherever I am in an instant gets spam there just as fast.

And I was struck by the parallels with Web Services - another useful "new paradigm" with potential pitfalls.

Web Services are changing the way we "live": how we build systems, how we tie them together. This year could be a real breakthrough for the Web Services world, one where Web Services become more useful and ubiquitous like in "smartphones."

As these technologies "come into their own," we must be cautious not to be so overcome by the euphoria of an addictive "gadget" that we fail to consider the hazards. Just as I have had to temper my BlackBerry use to take into account social or safety considerations (e.g., don't drive and type), we should examine our use of Web Services to make sure we are giving proper considering to performance and security. And, just as the appearance of spam on my new device has shown, moving to a new paradigm doesn't mean that the old problems go away. In fact, layering new paradigms on old ones may make solving the old problems more critical and complicated.

Luckily, we are fortunate that the Web Services world has a community of people and organizations that has taken the lead in overcoming issues like security. The standards and tools that have already been created give us a number of ways to work in this new paradigm. We just need to embrace them and use them effectively.

Now, if only there was a well-defined standard for reading e-mail while driving...