A major impediment has held back the enormous potential of B2B. Most eCommerce-enabling applications currently in place can only transact with trading partners that have exactly the same applications in place. For example, a consumer can easily schedule the delivery of a gourmet meal from an online catering company (B2C). However, the online catering service has a much more difficult time using the Web to link its operations to produce markets and courier services. The problem? Companies use different formats, protocols, and applications that don't know how to talk to each other. Enter Web Services and its various protocols like SOAP, UDDI, and WSDL. With Web Services, if the online catering service receives an order for fish that isn't available from their local resources, a Web Service can be launched to explore the registries of seafood markets in order to locate the fish. Microsoft, IBM, BEA, and Sun are the current market leaders in Web Services. Microsoft has centered its Web Services strategy around .NET; everyone else has chosen Java. Part One: Evolution and Emergence of Web Services Part Two: Web Services Architecture and Technologies Part Three: Exploring Java Web Services Developer Pack Part Four: Security in Web Services Part Five: Web Services Strategies and Solutions