Industrial Essay: What are Web Services? Web services have been touted over the past year as the most innovative improvement to the Internet. It has been adopted by many companies and has reached the forefront of application development. So why all the hype? Web services can be described as an application that can be deployed or called over the Internet and that allows applications to communicate with each other, regardless of the language they are written in or the system platform and operating system used . . Each service is a discrete unit of code and performs a small set of given tasks. Typically, web services use standard web protocols to perform their tasks. They generally follow an order: 1) find the requested web service, 2) determine how the web service is called once found, and 3) call the requested program or service. For the research part, UDDI (Universal Discovery, Description and Integration) is mainly used. This is a service that is essentially a directory of web services, and UDDI helps the user find the web service or program they are looking for. WSDL (Web Service Definition Language) is most often used to describe how the web service or program should be called, and XML to communicate it. Finally, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) encodes XML data sent and received and shares the data in messages over http. The potential power of web services can be displayed in different ways. Web services are used to integrate all kinds of data, from local programs interfaced with each other over a local network to large enterprise applications communicating over the Internet. Here are some examples of how web services can be used:* A utility pole is damaged in a remote area of ​​Massachusetts and a utility company needs to come in and replace it. However, to do this, the cable, telephone and power companies must act in a certain order so that the damaged pole is removed. Web services can be used to determine the status of actions taken by individual companies, since the order of actions is based on the utility that owns the pole.* A company wants to measure the quantity of a particular product it sold, which customers bought, what quantity. of the product, when then... middle of paper ......partners." In other words, web services make it possible to considerably expand the limits of software integration. Today it is a great selling point for businesses, especially those that develop software. And initially, businesses that develop web services will benefit, but eventually success will give way to businesses that leverage web services in the most useful way. .INDEXBrown, Bob, in an interview with Zimon, Gene (CIO and senior vice president of energy company Nstar), Utility IT Exec To ExplorePower of Web Services, Network World, December 2, 2002McAllister, Neil, Service Economy. : Will Web Services Be the Savior of the Industry, April 18, 2002http://www.fatalexception.org/articles/2002/20020418.htmlMicrosoft Corporation, What are Web Services?, May 15, 2003http://www.microsoft.com /net/basics/webservices.aspSaxby, Barbara Angius, Web Services: A Floor Wax or Dessert Topping?, March 7, 2002 http://www.goto-silicon-valley.com/articles/barbara-angius-saxby/ web_services.pdfSholler, Daniel, METAReport: What Are Web Services, Anyway?, Datamation, January 16, 2002http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/it_res/article.php/955861