Web services as an SOA implementation
Web services provides a technology foundation for implementing a service-oriented architecture (SOA). A major focus during the development of this technology is to make the functional building blocks accessible over standard Internet protocols which are independent of platforms and programming languages to ensure that very high levels of interoperability are possible.
Web services are self-contained software services that can be accessed using simple protocols over a network. They can also be described using standard mechanisms, and these descriptions can be published and located using standard registries. Web services can perform a wide variety of tasks, ranging from simple request-reply to full business process interactions.
Using tools like RAD v7.5, existing resources can be exposed as Web services very easily.
The following core technologies are used for Web services:
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| XML |
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| SOAP |
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| WSDL |
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ibm.com/redbooks |