Web Services
A web service is a collection of protocols and standards that allows different applications from different sources to communicate with each other over the web. Web services enable applications written with different programming languages supported over varying platforms (different hardware, software, database, or network platforms) to exchange data, very conveniently or, in other words, it offers a platform and language-neutral approach. For example, a web service written in Java and running on BEA WebLogic server can access a web service written in C and running on a Microsoft IIS. They use XML for communication so web services are not bound to any programming language or operating system.
Read more at:
