On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 5:28 PM, Rob Eamon <[email protected]> wrote: > > Nick quoted from the SOA RM: > > "It provides a uniform means to offer, discover, interact with and use > capabilities to produce desired effects consistent with measurable > preconditions and expectations.' > > Think about all the "integration" projects in which each of us has > participated in the past. Now correlate the work you did with the > definition above. Virtually the same, no? :-)
The SOA RM goes further wrt "integration": The value of SOA is that it provides a simple scalable paradigm for organizing large networks of systems that require interoperability to realize the value inherent in the individual components. Indeed, SOA is scalable because it makes the fewest possible assumptions about the network and also minimizes any trust assumptions that are often implicitly made in smaller scale systems. An architect using SOA principles is better equipped, therefore, to develop systems that are scalable, evolvable and manageable. It should be easier to decide how to integrate functionality across ownership boundaries. For example, a large company that acquires a smaller company must determine how to integrate the acquired IT infrastructure into its overall IT portfolio. [lines 284-291 on page 11; emphasis added] So the value or benefit of SOA (this passage appears in section 2.3 "The Benefits of SOA") comes down to two of my favorite "i" words: interoperability and integration. That's one way to interpret "SOA is integration". Actually, according to the OASIS SOA RM, SOA is all about three of my favorite "i" words: interaction, interoperability, and integration. So, just to cover all the bases, I'd say that SOA is interaction, interoperability, and integration. -- Nick
