What is .NET Web Services?

.NET Web Services (now largely superseded by newer technologies like ASP.NET Core Web API) provided a framework for building and consuming web services using the SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) standard. They enabled applications running on different platforms and technologies to communicate with each other over a network (typically the internet) by exchanging structured data, often in XML format. .NET Web Services were commonly used for integrating disparate systems, exposing functionality as a service, and building distributed applications.