small pieces of code that are accessed via the application server which permit interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. a web service is merely an api wrapped in http
a combination of software tools that let application software in one organization communicate with other applications over a network using the soap, uddi, and wsdl protocols
the term &"web service&" describes a standardized way of integrating web-based applications using the xml, soap, wsdl and uddi open standards over an internet protocol backbone.