<A HREF="http://soap.weblogs.com/">UserLand Software</A>, Ariba, Commerce One, Compaq Computer Corporation, Developmentor, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, IONA Technologies, Lotus Development Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, SAP AG jointly proposed to the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) a new protocol called the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) that will allow new applications connecting graphic user interface desktop applications to Internet servers using the standards of the Internet, HTTP and XML.