W3C releases latest version of SOAP

SOAP, or Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol for exchanging information between different computing systems via extensible markup language, or XML. The loosely coupled integration method is used as an alternative to proprietary application programming interfaces.

The SOAP Version 1.2 Recommendation released Tuesday means the W3C, an international standards body for the Web, believes the specification is stable, contributes to web interoperability and has been reviewed and approved by W3C members. A recommendation is the W3C's equivalent of a web standard.

SOAP 1.2 resolves more than 400 technical and editorial issues related to the previous specifications, the W3C said.