Note: Although the components that support Web Services are built to use SOAP and HTTP, the framework is sufficiently general that it can be expanded to use other encoding and communications protocols. For more information about SOAP, see the SOAP specification available at It uses XML to encode remote procedure calls and typically uses HTTP as a communications protocol. SOAP is a standard lightweight protocol for exchanging information in a decentralized, distributed environment. Support for Web Services is designed to work using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). In addition to defining interfaces in a language-neutral fashion, they are designed to allow multiple communications mechanisms as well. That is, server implementations do not require clients to use a specific platform or programming language. Web Services are designed to allow a loose coupling between client and server. Rather, they are accessed programmatically by client applications. Unlike Web server applications that generate Web pages for client browsers, Web Services are not designed for direct human interaction.
Web Services provide well-defined interfaces that describe the services provided.
Web Services are self-contained modular applications that can be published and invoked over the Internet.
