Web service was basically introduced as a standard to replace CORBA.
There's a lot more to it than just being XML. It's a way to expose procedures to 3rd parties without having to develop your own set of protocols. You expose your service via a WSDL (web service descriptor language) document. This lets the client know how to connect to your service and what to expect in return. There are two types of services -- document and rpc.
Most languages have the necessary components to build servers and clients from blocks of code that follow certain conventions.
I'm not sure if VistA would benefit from WS being implemented natively. I don't think the VA is pursuing XML development with MUMPS (although very well suited to handle XML). I think they've stopped development on their XML parser.
It would probably be easier to expose services through a supported implementation, such as Tomcat/Axis and then connect to M for database access.
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