Shipping Tools

Printable Version FedEx Web Services

With FedEx Web Services, you can integrate FedEx Express^® and FedEx Ground^® services into your business systems, retail website or order management system. FedEx Web Services is the next generation API for integrating software applications with FedEx Systems to create shipping labels, track shipments, obtain rate quotes and generate reports.

What are Web services?

Essentially, they are a collection of programming technologies that allows a user to build customized solutions for application integration.

FedEx is currently refocusing its web integration capabilities toward Web services. Those who have developed solutions with FedEx in the past using FedEx Ship Manager Direct or FedEx Ship Manager^TM API can rest assured that existing implementations will continue to be supported. However, new features will not be offered with these products. Developers are encouraged to switch to FedEx Web Services in order to take advantage of all of the new and improved features and benefits that will be available through FedEx Web Services.

Web services differ from traditional client/server models in that they allow for application-to-application communication. In other words, applications interface with each other, not with the users. This means applications can be combined to create more powerful services. For example, a user could choose to combine FedEx Web Services with Web services from other organizations to create unique, customized solutions.

Features

Web services represent the future of application integration because they offer the following:

Inter-Operability
Any Web service can interact with any other Web service and can be written in any programming language.

Compatibility
Web services communicate using HTTP and XML—so any connected device that supports these technologies can both host and access Web Services.

Low Barrier to Entry
The concepts behind Web services are easy to understand, and developers can quickly create and deploy them using many tool-kits available on the Web.

Industry Support
Major content providers and vendors are supporting the Web services movement.

Benefits

From a business and product planning standpoint, FedEx Web Services is an ideal choice for integration. FedEx Web Services are designed to achieve the following:
Streamline Operations Integrate common FedEx functionality into your business workflow, including the ability to locate the best rates, estimate transit times, and track shipments. Save time by automating common processes like rate and service selection, generating labels, and exchanging data between information sources
Industry Standard FedEx Web Services conforms to industry standards and is compatible with a comprehensive array of developer's tools to provide faster time to market and increased flexibility to integrate FedEx transactions and information into your applications. FedEx WSDLs are designed to be fully inter-operable with any product or developer's tool that also conforms to the WS-I Basic Profile. For more information, view Web Services Inter-Operability.
A Wealth of Resources FedEx Web Services Developer Resource Centre (DRC) offers developers a secure environment to access the resources necessary for integration-from product planning guidance, documentation and sample code all the way to testing and production. All the information a developer needs to complete a FedEx integration project in record time can be found at the DRC. Click here to register for access to the DRC and get started today!

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