This comprehensive text explains the principles and practice of Web services and relates all concepts to practical examples and emerging standards. Its discussions include:

• Ontologies
• Semantic web technologies
• Peer-to-peer service discovery
• Service selection
• Web structure and link analysis
• Distributed transactions
• Process modelling
• Consistency management.

The application of these technologies is clearly explained within the context of planning, negotiation, contracts, compliance, privacy, and network...