TABLE OF CONTENTS Web Services are the hottest thing going these days; you've probably heard the hype. One of the problems with new technologies is that definitions tend to become overloaded with vendors' and the media's claims about the value and benefit of the new technology, with the result that it is often difficult to determine just what the technology is or does.
In this chapter we start by grounding ourselves in a succinct definition of Web Services and cover the mechanics of Web Services in just enough detail to allow readers to follow the rest of the chapter. There are many excellent books on the subject and many more coming out every month for those who want to pursue the mechanics in more detail.
Because this is a book on semantics, we will spend most of the chapter discussing the implications of this style of architecture and the semantic tools and methods that will be needed to help it achieve its potential.
For something as simple as Web Services, there seems to be a lot of confusion even at the definition level. Here are some representative definitions:
David Rosam: "Web Services are reusable software components based on XML and related protocols that enable near zero-cost interaction throughout the business ecosystem. They can be used internally for fast and low-cost application integration, or made available to customers, suppliers or partners over the Internet." [95]
Hailey Lynee McKeefry, ZDNet: "Web services are self-contained, self-describing, modular applications that can...
