In the last couple of years a new definition of  "Web service" has developed.  In this definition, a Web service is a software component that encapsulates business functionality and which can be accessed using IPs.  From a technical perspective, "Web services" also refer to an emerging set of standards that enables a component-based application architecture.

One of the motivating forces behind the development of Web services is the desire to be able to reuse software.  This is not new.  This was the motivation behind the development of object-oriented programming and technologies such as CORBA. 

It is too early to say if Web services will succeed where object-oriented programming failed.  However, Web services have a good shot at success because they are based on well-accepted technologies such as XML and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).  In addition, over half of all IT organizations have already made some use of Web services and most expect to make additional use of Web services in the future.

Web services as defined in this newsletter will have a dramatic impact on the WAN in part because XML is a bandwidth hog. Because of this, IT organizations should consider deploying XML accelerators. These organizations should also re-examine their approach to performance management. These Web services can run on any number of servers, either inside of a single data center or spread across multiple data centers. As such, trouble shooting a performance problem with a Web services based application will make today's trouble shooting look easy.

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Jim Metzler is vice president of Ashton, Metzler & Associates.