The Information Technology (IT) Vocabulary Builder series aims to deliver a very concise summary of a currently relevant topic to Information Professionals.  It is done mostly by collecting a small number of highly relevant web links to save you the time of combing through search results yourself.  It differs from sites such as Wikipedia because it includes opinions, forecasts, and detractions in addition to just facts.

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is the creation of a computer network ecosystem that permits applications to be nothing more than a collection of overlays to underlying, standardized enterprise services that are provided by the operating system overlaid with an enterprise standard set of software services.  It is intended to produce a highly secure, agile, cost-effective, and interface standardized environment. It is anticipated to be better, faster, less expensive, and easier to modify than any legacy or proprietary system to date.  It is an extremely popular term right now in the information technology press.

The Wikipedia site is an excellent introduction to the topic.This is how Wikipedia defines SOA:

“In computing, service-oriented architecture (SOA) provides methods for systems development and integration where systems package functionality as interoperable services.

 

A SOA infrastructure allows different applications to exchange data with one another.

Service-orientation aims at a loose coupling of services with operating systems, programming languages and other technologies that underlie applications. SOA separates functions into distinct units, or services, which developers make accessible over a network in order that users can combine and reuse them in the production of applications. These services communicate with each other by passing data from one service to another, or by coordinating an activity between two or more services.

 

SOA can be seen in a continuum, from older concepts of distributed computing[2][3] and modular programming, through to current practices of mashups, SaaS, and Cloud Computing (which some see as the offspring of SOA”.

The following two sites contain more information on the topic with a positive bent.

  1. O’Reilly’s article on What is Service Oriented Architecture
  2. SAP.com: SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE

The following two sites contain more information on the topic with a cautious angle.

  1. Active Software Professionals’ aspalliance.com: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Service-Oriented Architecture
  2. IT Business Edge: SOA: Bad for Budget Talks, but Still Great for Integration and IT

Take Away: SOA is a radical change to the status quo in the software/hardware separation.  It is a disruptive concept that has implications for resourcing, technology, user interface, procurement, and security,  All Information Professionals need to keep appraised of its vector and way ahead..

Does your organization use SOA? Do you think that it is a passing fad or the future?  What do you think?

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for June 22, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin .


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