Enterprises are interested in integrating multiple applications within or across companies. Integrating brings several major benefits:

- The ability to use existing host applications without modifications

- Extended business value for the customers

- Streamlined introduction of new services to the customers

- Reduction in I/T expenses on application development and maintenance

- Simplification of a user interface

- A single point of access for all customer applications

The newest integration technology of Web services provides these great promises. Web services enable the dynamic, flexible, and potentially real-time selection of any kind of business service across the Internet. Business processes running in different enterprises can bind together and cooperate as if they belong to a seamlessly designed system. However, they may be implemented by different software vendors or using different software technologies.

This IBM Redpaper explains how to develop Web services for an IBM eServer iSeries environment. It introduces you to Web services and Web services technologies. It shows how to develop a Web services sample application with WebSphere Development Studio Client for iSeries. It also shows how to enable iSeries Web services with WebSphere Application Server.

The material assumes that you have extensive programming experience in Java. As such, this Redpaper targets Java programmers who want to start developing Web services.

Chapter 1. Overview of Web services

Chapter 2. Understanding the sample RPG application

Chapter 3. Web services application design and architecture

Chapter 4. Implementing the Store Web service

Chapter 5. Web service client

Chapter 6. Web services deployment

Chapter 7. Other topics

Appendix A. Additional material