Hi Dhivya,
Check out SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism at W3C:
"Use of the Abstract SOAP Transmission Optimization Feature is a hop-by-hop contract between a SOAP node and the next SOAP node in the SOAP message path, providing no mandatory convention for optimization of SOAP transmission through intermediaries. The feature does provide optional means by which binding implementations MAY choose to facilitate the efficient pass-through of optimized data contained within headers or bodies relayed by an intermediary (see 2.3.4 Binding Optimizations at Intermediaries). Additional specifications might also be written to provide for other optimized multi-hop capabilities, perhaps building on the mechanisms provided herein."
Basically the idea is to this way you don't restrict or limit the SOAP messages processing to point-to-point communication because the SOAP messages can go through many intermediaries.
Regards,
Mate
