The webMethods Integration Server hosts packages that contain services and related files. The Integration Server comes with core Integration Server packages. For example, all Integration Server instances include packages that contain built-in services that your developers might want to invoke from their services or client applications and services that demonstrate some of the features of the Integration Server. You can create additional packages to hold the services that your developers create. Your developers can create services that perform functions, such as integrating your business systems with those of your partners, retrieving data from legacy systems, and accessing and updating databases.

webMethods Integration Server provides an environment for the orderly, efficient, and secure execution of services. It decodes client requests, identifies the requested services, invokes the services, passes data to them in the expected format, encodes the output produced by the services, and returns output to the clients.

Additionally, the server authenticates clients, verifies that they are authorized to execute the requested service, maintains audit-trail logs, and promotes throughput using facilities such as service result caching.