Edit / A term that many are using but few are providing usable definitions for. Adam Bosworth of BEA recently stepped up to the plate and offered this definition: The term Web Services refers to an architecture that allows applications to talk to each other. Period. End of statement. This definition is authoritative and useful but it also encompasses the entire Internet, TCP/IP, Netware, RPC, SNMP, and USB to name just a few. The W3C says a web service is: a software application identified by a URI, whose interfaces and bindings are capable of being defined, described, and discovered as XML artifacts. A Web service supports direct interactions with other software agents using XML-based messages exchanged via Internet-based protocols. See Also: XML-RPC SOAP RPC

are SOAP or XML-RPC based modular, self-contained applications that can be developed, published, located, and called over an internal network or on the Net. They interact with and/or call each other, fulfilling specific tasks and requests that, in turn, carry out specific parts of larger transactions or functions. With Web Services, applications are able to dynamically locate and use multiple services or information sources anywhere on the Net. Win32

Protocols that enable computers to work together by exchanging messages. Web services are based on the standard protocols of XML, SOAP, and WSDL, which allow them to interoperate across platforms and programming languages.

A URL-addressable software resource that 1) performs functions and provides answers utilizing standard protocols (like XML and SOAP) and 2) is visible and accessible to other software applications.

a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications. It allows organizations to share data without needing to know the details of other organizations' computer systems.

Web services the a term used to describe a standardized way of integrating multiple online web protocols such as XML, SHTML, PERL, CGI and creating a user friendly experience to your targeted audience.

A collection of web-protocol based applications that can be mixed and matched to provide connectivity and interoperability between applications and organizations. WSDL (Web Service Definition Language)

The term "Web Services" can be somewhat confusing, as it is, unfortunately, used in many different ways. This explanation refers to the term "Web Services" as an implementation of a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Web Services are defined using Web Services Description Language (WSDL) and are published to a directory of services, which could use Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI). A service consumer obtains the information required to use a service from the information published in the directory by the service provider. SOAP generally provides the "envelope" for sending web services messages between consumer, provider and directory.

Standards that enable interoperability on applications on the net. Includes XML, SOAP, UDDI, and WSDL. More

Used primarily as a means for businesses to communicate with each other and with clients, Web services allow organizations to communicate data without intimate knowledge of each other's IT systems behind the firewall. Unlike traditional client/server models, such as a Web server/Web page system, Web services do not provide the user with a GUI. Web services instead share business logic, data and processes through a programmatic interface across a network. The applications interface, not the users. Developers can then add the Web service to a GUI (such as a Web page or an executable program) to offer specific functionality to users.

"Web Services" is the umbrella term of group of loosely related Web-based resources and components that may be used by other Web applications over HTTP. Those resources could include anything from phone directory data to weather data to sports results.

Software components and applications running on web servers. Web services provide data services to other computers, browsers or individuals, often using XML as the communication protocol.

a broad-based Internet development company specializing in helping businesses market and sell their goods and services on the Internet

a piece of software that you can interact with using an XML message format

Web-Services- Web services are self-describing, self-contained, modular units of application logic that provide some business functionality to other applications through an Internet connection. Applications access web services via ubiquitous web protocols and data formats, such as HTTP and XML, with no need to worry about how each web service is implemented. Web services can be mixed and matched with other web services to execute a larger workflow or business transaction.

Simply describes services offered by a supplier via the web for web users, or other web-connected programs. Often used to refer to services that can allow users access through a peer-to-peer arrangement, or services that can communicate with other services through the use of middleware.

The cross-system and cross-corporate connection and processing of data takes place via XML. Central elements of the web services are the communication standard SOAP and the Web Services Description Language (WSDL).

Services or resources made available through the Web to computer applications. See also some of the associated protocols for this: WSDL and SOAP.

New kinds of Web-based applications that can be assembled quickly using existing software components.

The services we provide over the internet from our Websites.

A service–based architecture based on supplying services using XML. It has been widely adopted by many different vendors.

b . A service is a component performing a task, perhaps over a network. A web service can be identified by a URI. Its public interfaces and bindings are described using XML. It's definition can be discovered by clients who can interact with the web service using it's definition. See: Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Definition Language (WSDL)

A vague term that refers to distributed or virtual applications or processes that use the Internet to link activities or software components. A travel Web site that takes a reservation from a customer, and then sends a message to a hotel application, accessed via the Web, to determine if a room is available, books it, and tells the customer he or she has a reservation is an example of a Web Services application.

A family of technologies that consist of specifications, protocols, and industry-based standards that are used by heterogeneous applications to communicate, collaborate, and exchange information among themselves in a secure, reliable, and interoperable manner. It is the primary technology for enabling and realizing SOA.

Web services are self-contained, modular applications that can be described, published, located and invoked over the Internet. They perform well-defined functions both for applications and other Web services. These functions can be anything from simple calculations to complicated business processes. Through their loose-coupling and dynamic real-time discovery and binding, Web Services insulate applications from the complexity and details of other components, creating systems that are more flexible and adaptable. Security is recognized as a major impediment to wide-spread adoption of Web services.

The programmatic interfaces that allow application to application communication on the web.

Simply put, a web service is a piece of functionality that exists out on the web. Imagine you could write a PL/SQL function and allow ANY program running on the web to access it (like a remote procedure call). You would put your package spec on the web and that would define what the function did and what results it returned. Anyone could then call that function, passing any required parameters, and would get a result. So, you could publish an "order lookup" web service that would accept an order number and return the status of the order that any 3rd party application could use. In web services, the actual implementation of the web service (analogous to the package or function body) is hidden and is implementation agnostic (so it could be written in Java or C or C++). The analogy of the package spec is implemented by the WSDL and the messaging protocol for actually calling the web service is called SOAP

Web services are self-contained business functions that operate over the Internet.

Web services are simple, self contained applications which perform functions, from simple requests to complicated business processes. The "web services" model uses WSDL, UDDI and SOAP/XMLP. A WSDL description is retrieved from the UDDI directory. WSDL descriptions allow the software systems of one business to extend to use those of the other directly. The services are invoked over the World Wide Web using the SOAP/XMLP protocol. Each of the components is XML based. Where two agencies know about each other’s web services they can link their SOAP/XMLP interfaces – provided all security concerns are managed appropriately. It is only where services are going to have unknown users that they need to be formally described by a language such as WSDL and entered into a directory such as UDDI.

Web services are a new way of connecting business. Web services are platform-neutral and vendor-independent protocols that enable any form of distributed processing to be performed using XML and Web-based technologies.

A Web Service is an application accessible using standard Internet protocols. Web Services are accessed over Web protocols such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and data formats such as Extensible Markup Language (XML). A Web Service interface is defined strictly in terms of the messages the Web Service accepts and generates in response. A web service is made up of the following: A message format that is common and extensible A service description language that is common and extensible A method of being able to be discovered

Functions that are published to a web server for remote invocation via the Intranet or Internet, using XML messaging based on SOAP, WSDL and UDDI.

A Web Service is a software application identified by a URI [IETF RFC 2396], whose interfaces and binding are capable of being defined, described and discovered by XML artifacts and supports direct interactions with other software applications using XML based messages via Internet-based protocols.

Functions or services available remotely over the Internet. Generally, they use SOAP as a transport mechanism, are defined in WSDL, and may be registered with UDDI. See SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI

A standardized way of integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over the Internet. Web services allow different applications from different sources to communicate with each other without time-consuming custom coding.

A software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. Web services provide an interface that is described in a machine-processable format, such as WSDL. Other systems interact with the web service in a manner prescribed by its interface using messages, which may be enclosed in a SOAP envelope, or follow a RESTful approach. These messages are typically conveyed using HTTP, and normally comprise XML in conjunction with other web-related standards. Software applications written in various programming languages and running on various platforms can use web services to exchange data over computer networks like the Internet in a manner similar to inter-process communication on a single computer. This interoperability (for example, between Java, Mainframe, Microsoft Windows, and Linux applications) is due to the use of open standards for all communications.

Web Services refers to a suite of XML-based standards that allow applications to exchange information in a platform independent way. Early work in Web Services focused on standards for service description (WSDL), deployment and discovery (UDDI). The effort has expanded to include standards for security, reliability and management among others. Web services are typically invoked over the Internet using standard protocols, most often SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).

A method of encapsulating application functionality and business rules within reusable components that can be called via the Web to provide a service to other Web services, analytic applications or user interfaces. Web services will be an important technology component for business activity monitoring and collaborative business intelligence, enabling companies to create intelligent agents that monitor events in real time, dynamically route information to targeted users or processes and automate analysis to improve the speed and effectiveness of adapting business operations to changing conditions.

Web-based applications that interact with other web-based applications using open standards, such as XML, UDDI, and SOAP. Such applications typically run behind the scenes through server-to-server communication.

A computer term for information processing services that are delivered by third parties using Internet Portals. Standardized technology communications protocols; network services a collections of communication formats or endpoints capable of exchanging messages.

A unit of application logic providing data and services to other applications. Applications access XML Web services using standard Web protocols and data formats such as HTTP, XML, and SOAP, independent of how each XML Web service is implemented. XML Web services combine the best aspects of component-based development and the Web, and are a cornerstone of the Microsoft .NET programming model.

A Web Service is application or business logic that is accessible using standard Internet protocols. Web Services combine the best aspects of component-based development and the World Wide Web. Like components, Web Services represent black-box functionality that can be used and reused without regard to how the service is implemented.

The term Web services describes a standardized way of integrating Web-based applications using the XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI open standards over an Internet protocol backbone. XML is used to tag the data, SOAP is used to transfer the data, WSDL is used for describing the services available and UDDI is used for listing what services are available.

Web services is Internet or other IP-based network applications built with four emerging standards: XML, simple object access protocol (SOAP), Web services description language (WSDL), and universal description discovery and integration (UDDI). That allows the applications to talk to each other—no human intervention needed. What Web services is all about is interoperability of applications, be they written in Perl or Java or Windows or whatever.

Programmatic interfaces attached to Web-based applications, supported by a suite of application-to-application communication protocols.

Web Services represent an extension of the concept of off-the-shelf software to that of software delivered as a service. They are building blocks that enable developers to build and aggregate applications and services from local and remote resources for a range of clients. By requiring systems that are loosely coupled, XML is key to making Web Services work across the Web