There are various technologies for IBM i that are available in support of web services. The following sections look at some of the most popular technologies from two perspectives: the web service provider perspective and the web service consumer perspective.
Who is the consumer and who is the provider for a web service?
The provider runs on the server and provides the web service. The provider might allow clients to access the web service through SOAP, REST, or both. The consumer is the client application (for example, browser or client application). The client application might use SOAP or REST to consumer the web service.