3.3. Web Services—The Evolution

3.3.1. What Is Web Service?

The term Web Services has become a buzzword in the industry recently. With the change in the economic landscape, there is an increasing interest in pursuing cost-effective solution development and implementation by Application Service Provider (ASP), out-sourcing, or out-tasking.

On the other hand, Business-to-Business integration (B2Bi) has always been a hot subject with the emergence of more e-Marketplace and Exchanges. Traditional point-to-point interfaces and proprietary message structures become difficult to manage as the number explodes exponentially. There is a need for an open standards-based, yet flexible solution for wide and speedy deployment.

These two driving forces have ...

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