Untangling the Web SOAP uses XML as a simple and elegant solution that automates B2B transactions By Greg Barish Most of today's Web applications are built for human consumption. Because real people interact with these applications, information must be presented in a visually appealing way.
Users fill out HTML forms and then receive static or dynamic HTML output in response.
For example, metacatalogs automatically query hundreds of existing online catalogs from a single user interface where users have made queries. In fact, it is likely that the network transmission of such automation will eventually dwarf the traffic generated from human-based interactivity. The protocol's Microsoft origins may seem surprising considering that it is not tied directly to any Microsoft technology - rather, it is a proposal for an open standard. It was only after the input of IBM, which initially rejected it, that the proposal began to distance itself from its original Microsoft bent, evolving into something more open. What B2B really needs is an easy way to integrate the back-end systems of participating organizations.