Government interest in Web services grows

It's not every day a nascent technology meets a pressing customer need, but Web services and homeland security may provide a case in point.

A Web service is a software component that resides on the Internet as a URL-addressable resource. This architecture provides a standards-based path to application integration and improved data access. That's because the Web services approach is built on Extensible Markup Language, which conceals the differences among disparate applications and operating systems.

Some government and industry executives view Web services as a potential antidote for

the data-sharing headaches of homeland

security. "The greatest promise that Web services hold