Virtual Terminals as an XML Webservic

In this paper, a novel approach to offering the Virtual Terminal service is presented, i.e. to offer the Virtual Terminal as an XML Web service. Exposing Virtual Terminal functionalities as XML Web services will have a number of advantages compared to the current version of the Virtual Terminal. First of all it will enhance the accessibility of the service, enabling 3rd parties to introduce it to new market segments in a straightforward way. Customization of the service will be possible enabling different flavours of Virtual Terminals to be introduced, and finally, the virtual Terminal functionalities will be available to other applications and not only human end users. In this way, the Virtual Terminal functionalities can be invoked by applications and utilized as components in order to build a wide range of other complex services.