I don't like the WSH answer or RUN. As for the web service, would I be able to create a web server exposing the java utility as a web service without the vendors input (will the web service just be a wrapper around their utility)? Or is that something the vendor will have to do.

I guess it would depend on what API the vendor exposes. I assumed it would be a JAR and you could instance classes, etc, from that, but that was an assumption on my part.

If we do get the web service to work, how difficult is it to get a web service to run on a standalone (non networked and non internet connected) PC?

Yeah, ok, that might be a problem. Imagine having to specify that each computer run a copy of Apache web server! (for example.) You don't want to pull an "HP" (infamous for client printer driver installs that included a copy of Tomcat)

- Colin