Glossary:

Extensible Markup Language

Identifies and describes data in documents such as Webpages or text messages. This makes the data useful to software such as Web Browsers and B-B e-commerce systems. It’s is an official, open standard.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) – A common, independent data format across the enterprise and beyond that provides:

• Standard data types and structures, independent of any programming language, development environment, or software system.
• Pervasive technology for defining business documents and exchanging business information, including standard vocabularies for many industries.
• Ubiquitous software for handling operations on XML, including parsers, queries, and transformations.

Web services – XML-based technologies for messaging, service description, discovery, and extended features, providing:

• Pervasive, open standards for distributed computing interface descriptions and document exchange via messages.
• Independence from the underlying execution technology and application platforms.
• Extensibility for enterprise qualities of service such as security, reliability, and transactions.
• Support for composite applications such as business process flows, multi-channel access, and rapid integration.
• Service-oriented architecture (SOA) – A methodology for achieving application interoperability and reuse of IT assets that features:
• A strong architectural focus, including governance, processes, modeling, and tools.
• An ideal level of abstraction for aligning business needs and technical capabilities, and creating reusable, coarse-grain business functionality.
• A deployment infrastructure on which new applications can quickly and easily be built.
• A reusable library of services for common business and IT functions.