The best replacement for web services is wcf.

The best alternatives to web services are rated as following:
★★★★★  wcf
★★★★  soa
★★★  api
★★★  remoting
★★★  rest
★★  ejb
★★  web applications
★★  jms
★  soap
★  corba
★  rpc
★  rmi
★  windows services
★  servlets
★  .net remoting
  esb
  edi
  ftp
  rest api
  web services
  web server
  wcf services
  cloud computing
  grid services
  akamai
  middleware
  eai
  odbc
  dcom
  ebxml
  message broker
  client server

Your alternative for web services is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about web services, one probably shouldn't forget about informatica.

Other search terms related to web services and their ratings are:
★★★★★ informatica
★ soa
You have in mind a companion for web services and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of web services in all years. Click on graph for more.
web services
wcf
soa