The best explanation for why web services are misunderstood or unknown by most people is that they are generally never seen. Web sites have visuals that reach out to people and grab their attention with attractive pictures, video clips, colorful and unique styles, and catchy headlines. Web services on the other hand have no visual aspect and therefore can't be seen by the average user surfing the web. From the point of view of most Internet users, web services might as well not exist and have no significant value.
So then, what exactly are web services and what are they good for? A web service is essentially an offering made by an organization over the Internet that can be programmatically interacted with. The best way to illustrate this is with an example.
Take, for instance, the United States Postal Service. To begin with, they have a traditional web site (www.usps.gov) that offers a wealth of information about their services, products, prices, and policies among other things. One of the useful services they offer is that they address information and verification such as zip code lookups (zip4.usps.com/zip4). This service enables even a non-savvy web user to find a zip code (including the zip+4 suffix) for a given address, city, and state. This user service is valuable to all that use it, but it does require an actual person to visit the website and type in the address. There are many other uses and needs for the "data" that the USPS offers via this service.
For example, a retail company called Widgets for Geeks needs to collect shipping information from its customers who buy their products online. When a user keys in their shipping address at www.widgetsforgeeks.com, the website then needs to validate the address entered by the user. Since the USPS is the most comprehensive and reliable source of address information, www.widgetsforgeeks.com can quickly query the USPS website for the address verification. This query happens "behind the scenes" after the user clicks a submit button. If www.widgetsforgeeks.com gets an invalid response from the USPS, it can inform the user entering the shipping information that they need to re-enter it. Fortunately, this kind of scenario is possible because of web services.
The USPS, like thousands of other entities on the Internet, provides a set of web services for the world to consume. Their web services have certain requirements — specifications — of what kind of information gets submitted to it so that it can properly issue a response. A knowledgeable software developer versed in consuming web services can simply program their application (website) to make a web service query to the USPS web services and handle the data it gets back in the response.
To summarize this real world example, it involves one organization's website (Widgets for Geeks) obtaining information from another organization's website (the USPS) in order to properly conduct a transaction. The web service interaction is a very real and important part of the process but happens behind the scenes unbeknownst to the user visiting www.widgetsforgeeks.com. One useful way to think about web services compared to websites and email is in supply chain management terms. Email messages are typically C2C transactions (consumer to consumer), Websites typically involve B2C transactions (business to consumer) - and occasionally C2C transactions, whereas web services are typically B2B transactions (business to business).
What has enabled the proliferation of web services on the Internet in recent years — as it did with the World Wide Web over a decade ago — was the creation of and the acceptance of standards. The organization largely responsible for these standards is the World Wide Web Consortium, also known as the W3C (www.w3.org). Whereas HTML was they key standard that supported the widespread use of the Web, XML and SOAP are the newer standards that have facilitated the creation and use of web services across a broad range of computing platforms.
As mentioned earlier, web services are being implemented around the world, over the Internet with increasing frequency. In addition to the example just described, other real-world scenarios of where web services are implemented today include electronic transfer of funds between financial institutions, sharing of criminal information between different law enforcement agencies, creditors accessing credit report information from credit bureaus, and countless other business to business exchanges of information.
About the Author
Baron Smith specializes in software solution design and development, mainly with the Microsoft family of development tools and platforms. One of Baron's strengths is identity management solutions. As the lead developer, Baron has implemented MIIS (Microsoft Identity Integration Server) solutions for 2 Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in Phoenix. In addition to software solution implementation, Baron has performed numerous application assessments for BVA clients. These assessments have proven to be valuable for BVA's clients, as they help non technical decision makers understand what strengths, weaknesses, or areas for possible improvement exist in regard to software applications. Baron has also taken on project management duties for some of his projects.
About BVA Inc. Since 1993, Bryan Vincent Associates (BVA) has been working with clients, large and small, local and far reaching, to realize the value of their technology investment. BVA's approach to technology is to improve the quality of clients' products and services; and, as a result, their bottom line. BVA tailors its services to meet the individual needs of clients. From proactive support services, and consulting services to project management and technology leadership, BVA strategically works with businesses to help them facilitate growth by utilizing information technology. BVA partners with industry leaders, such as Microsoft, Novell, and Cisco, to deliver the superior quality of service clients recognize and respect. For more information, visit www.bvainc.com.
