<<Storage and SOA? That seems like an odd marriage, like combining
"American Idol" with "Masterpiece Theater" into one show. Or "24? and
"Monk." Or "Monk" and "House." Or SOA and Chuck Norris
<http://soafacts.com/>. I could go on...
According to this report
<http://www.sdtimes.com/MICROSOFT_COMBINES_SOA_AND_STORAGE_BUSINESS_UNITS/About_MICROSOFT_and_SOA/33386>
by Software Development Times' David Worthington, Microsoft has combined
its data storage and Web services business units into a single group,
called the *Business Platform Division.*
The new division is comprised of Microsoft's Connected Systems Division
and Data and Storage Platforms Division. Products under this wing
include Windows Application Server, BizTalk Server, .NET Framework
technologies including Windows Communication Foundation and Windows
Workflow Foundation, .NET cloud services, and the Oslo modeling platform.
Of course, the company says the combined group will create "greater
synergies." For anyone worried about Microsoft's commitment to Web
services and SOA, the vendor does offer these reassuring words: "We will
continue to deliver technologies that enable customers to extend the
significant benefits they are achieving with 'real-world' SOA,"
according to said Darrell Cavens, director of product management in the
Enterprise Application Platform team at Microsoft.
Should we worry? Storage and SOA seem like an odd combination.
Worthington's article suggests that the realignment is due to economic
conditions.
But I think another factor is at work here. That is, *SOA is moving
closer to both enterprise data management and cloud computing.* Storage
--- the ability to store, archive, and manage large volumes of data ---
is a pain point for many enterprises these days, to which the cloud
model offers a compelling source of relief. Such capabilities are being
offered as services, both from external providers and potentially
internally, from other parts of the enterprise. The whole concept of
SANs (storage area networks) advances the concept that any and all
devices are pooled as a gigantic disk. In addition, data management is
increasingly being seen in a service-oriented context, as "data services
<http://blogs.informatica.com/perspectives/index.php/2008/07/29/service-orient-your-enterprise-data-management-with-data-services/>"
are delivered to end-user business units.
So, I don't think Microsoft is retrenching or cutting back SOA to save
money --- rather, I think the vendor sees more opportunity in the cloud,
with the growing service-orientation of data management --- with SOA as
the enabler.>>
You can find Joe's blog at: http://blogs.zdnet.com/service-oriented/?p=1805
Gervas
