This document provides an overview of web services, including:
1. It defines web services as XML-based information exchange systems that allow applications to communicate over the internet.
2. Web services allow different applications to share data and services over networks in a platform-independent way.
3. The document discusses the main types of web services - SOAP and REST - and provides an example of creating a simple SOAP web service in Java.
4. WSDL is introduced as the language used to describe web services interfaces and operations. The main elements of a WSDL document are outlined.
5. Creating a web service client to consume an existing web service is demonstrated using Java plugins and code generation