Several additional technologies, beyond what's provided in the basic Web services technologies, are required to support true business-to-business interaction over the Web. The Electronic Business XML (ebXML) consortium, for example, has defined a comprehensive set of specifications for an industrial-strength usage pattern for XML document exchange among trading partners. The ebXML messaging specification is based on SOAP with Attachments and does not use WSDL but does add several qualities of service, such as security, guaranteed messaging, and compliance with business process interaction patterns.

The ebXML initiative, the first phase of which ended in May 2001, was sponsored by an international group established by the United Nations Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and OASIS to research, develop, and promote global standards for the use of XML to facilitate the exchange of electronic business data.[5] The ebXML architecture begins with a business process and information model, maps the model to XML schemas, and defines requirements for applications that process the documents and exchange them among trading partners.

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