In a typical synchronous process, the client sends a request to the server and the server responds. The requestor, or client, blocks and waits for the response. This process works well when the server response is immediate. However, if the response is delayed, client execution halts until it arrives.

In an asynchronous process, the client can perform other work while waiting for a response that may be delayed. The asynchronous API implements this by creating a thread for each call to a service operation method. The method returns a handle to an object that can be polled to determine when the response is available. Once the response is available, a <servicecontextname>End() method is used to retrieve the response data.

For a discussion on how to create an asynchronous client, see The Asynchronous API which discusses the shipped example located in the directory <installdir>\examples\webservices\Async.