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Web services

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Web services
(1) In general, any online service delivered from a Web site. Since there are countless applications and services that emanate from the Web, such usage of the term is commonplace in articles from non-IT publications. Although the term may also appear in technical journals to refer to any offering on the Web, the astute journalist avoids such usage because "Web services" has a very specific definition (see #2). This is another example of generic names coined for specific technologies (see naming fiascos).

(2) When mentioned in the plural ("Web services"), the term often refers to an interface for a service oriented architecture (SOA), in which Web-based applications dynamically interact with other Web applications using open standards that include XML running over HTTP, UDDI and SOAP. Such applications typically run behind the scenes, one program "talking to" another (server to server). Microsoft's .NET and Sun's Java System (J2EE) are the major development platforms that natively support these standards. See SOA.

Private Implementations
Web services have been initially successful in private environments where large enterprises need to exchange data with their divisions and subsidiaries or with partners and clients. In such controlled situations, agreement on the data being passed between Web service components is more easily obtained. In addition, since Web services use open standards, vendors can supply customers with client side software to add to their applications no matter what the platform.

Public Use
Web services over the public Internet are expected to materialize slowly. Using discovery systems such as UDDI, the goal is to register a service on the Internet, allow an application to search for and find the service and then to seamlessly exchange data with it. If the service is fee based, payment processing could be included. Before global Web services can be put into operation, there must be industry agreement on the functions each service component must provide.

CORBA and DCOM
Web services enable software components to interact with each other around the world. In the past, this has only occasionally been realized within private networks using the industry standard CORBA and Microsoft's DCOM distributed component platforms. However, because Web services use protocols that are open and easier to implement, they have a better chance of being widely implemented.

The Buzzword
Although the term became the hot buzzword at the turn of the century, Web services still require cooperation and agreement among people to define business transactions and processes. Web services define only the format, transport and interface standards, not the meaning of the data to be exchanged (see ebXML). See SOA, SOAP, UDDI, Web services protocols and XML.

The Web Services Protocol Stack
UDDI is used to register and discover Web services, typically described in WSDL. The UDDI transactions use SOAP to talk to the UDDI server, and then the application uses SOAP to request the Web service. SOAP messages are actually delivered by HTTP and TCP/IP.

Web services [′web ‚serv·ə·səs]
(computer science)
A collection of SML-based standards that enable electronic communication and interaction independently of the computer platforms or specific technologies used by the communication parties.

(standard, programming, software)Web Services - A family of standards promoted by the W3C for working with other business, developers and programs through open protocols, languages and APIs, including XML, Simple Object Access Protocol, WSDL and UDDI.

W3C Web Services.


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European conference on Web Services (5th: 2007: Halle, Germany) Ed.
With the successful integration between the DataPower XS40 XML Security Gateway and Netegrity TransactionMinder, this partnership provides organizations with industry leading policy-based identity management unified with the most comprehensive wirespeed Web Services security device.
The amount of interest that web services - the latest and potentially revolutionary approach to application development and deployment - is generating among influential technology decision-makers.
 
 
Web Service Center
Web Service Choreography Interface
Web Service Component
Web Service Definition File
Web Service Definition Language
Web Service Definition Language
Web Service Deployment Descriptor
Web Service Description Language with Semantics
Web Service Discovery
Web Service Execution Environment
Web Service Level Agreements
Web Service Modeling Framework
Web Service Modeling Ontology
Web Service Modelling Execution
Web Service Offerings Infrastructure
Web Service Orchestration Server
Web Service Platform
Web Service Polling Engine
Web Service Privacy Policy
Web Service Rendition Interface
Web Service Research Institute
Web Service Scheduler
Web Service Software Factory
Web Service Validation Tools
Web Service Xchange
Web services
Web Services - Modeling and Testing
Web Services Agent Integration
Web Services and Agent-Based Engineering
Web Services and Formal Methods
Web Services and Geographic Information Systems
Web Services and Meteor Architecture
Web Services and Model Driven Enterprise Information Systems
Web Services and the Future of Internet Computing
Web Services Application Programming Interface
Web Services Architecture
Web Services Authorization
Web Services Best Practices
Web Services Business Network
Web Services Business Object
Web Services Business Process Execution Language
Web Services Choreography Description Language
Web Services Choreography Working Group
Web Services Common Library
Web Services Competence Centre
Web Services Component Model
Web Services Composite Application Framework
Web Services Contract First
Web Services Conversation Language
Web Services Data Access and Integration
 
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