The "find-bind-execute" paradigm

In the heyday of the internet boom, people imagined that there would be global service directories (run by large internet infrastructure providers) which would help companies dynamically find B2B partners to work with on-the-fly. This model proved naive for one simple reason: there are very few business relationships that exist without formal contracts, agreements, licenses, NDAs, etc. For large companies, even mundane things like buying pencils for office supplies are managed via a contract (because of volume purchase agreements, etc.).

So, before you can "find-bind-execute", you already knows who your business partners are. What this means, in essence, is there is little need for a global service directory. DNS gives you everything you need to link to your partner. However, service directories still play a role in B2B. What is happening is that companies which offer their partners multiple services are hosting their own service directories. This allows their business partners to (securely) explore the set of services they offer.