| Web services provide a
standard means of interoperating between different software
applications, running on a variety of platforms and/or
frameworks. A Web service is a software system, whose public
interfaces and bindings are defined and described using XML.
Its definition can be discovered by other software systems.
These systems may then interact with the Web service in a
manner prescribed by its definition, using XML based messages
conveyed by internet protocols.
A Web service is viewed as an abstract notion that
must be implemented by a concrete agent. The agent is
the physical entity (a piece of software) that sends and
receives messages, while the service is the abstract set of
functionality that is provided. To illustrate this
distinction, you might implement a particular Web service
using one agent one day (perhaps written in one programming
language), and a different agent the next day (perhaps written
in a different programming language). Although the agent may
have changed, the Web service remains the same.
The purpose of a Web service is to provide some
functionality on behalf of its owner -- a legal entity,
such as a business or an individual. The provider entity
is the legal entity that provides an appropriate agent to
implement a particular service.
A requester entity is a legal entity that wishes
to make use of a provider entity's Web service. It will use a requester
agent to exchange messages with the provider entity's provider
agent. In order for this message exchange to be
successful, the requester entity and the provider entity must
first agree on both the semantics and the mechanics of the
message exchange.
Globalcase has expertise and experience with web services
development and integration with your application systems to
extend your web application to mobile devices such as Cell
phone, PDA, etc.
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