Web services are modular and reusable software components that are created by wrapping a business application inside a Web service interface.
Web services communicate directly with other web services via standards-based technologies.
These standards-based communications allow Web services to be accessed by customers, suppliers, and trading partners independent of hardware, operating system, or even programming environment. The result is a vastly improved collaboration environment as compared to today's EDI and B2B solutions - an environment where businesses can expose their current and future business applications as Web services, which can be easily discovered and consumed by external partners. Go Back 2. A WSDL document describes how to connect to a Web service, including the interface definition, protocol, and endpoint information. The WSDL specifications help to improve interoperability between applications, regardless of the protocol or schema.