An end-point reference (EPR) contains the address information and technical specifications for a service. Indeed, all ESB-aware services are identified using end-point references. It is through these references that services are contacted. The are stored in the registry. Services add their end-point references to the registry when they are launched and should automatically remove them when they terminate. A service may have multiple end-point references. End-point references are also known as binding templates.

End-point references can contain links to the tModels designating the interface specifications for a particular service.