As mentioned earlier, the .NET Framework is not the only way of providing a Web Service or accessing a Web Service. There are many other products that can be used. Here are two examples:

• Sun provide JAX-RPC. This is included in Sun's Java Web Services Development Pack [34].
• Apache have two products: there is Apache SOAP and a newer product called Axis [1, 3].

I have successfully installed each of the above products; used them to create Web Services; and used them to access Web Services. I have also successfully interoperated between the above products and .NET.

The next section of this document looks at how Axis can be used to access the .NET Web Service that was developed earlier in this document.