<<SOA continues to move forward, and judging by the headcount at the
latest IBM Impact SOA event we attended, it shows no sign of waning in
popularity.
Eric Roch recently discussed a TechTarget survey
<http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/soa-talk/survey-sees-soa-strength/>
in his post, SOA Survey Points to Practical Approaches.
<http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/the-soa-blog/soa-survey-points-to-practical-approaches-30900>
He wrote that the survey results indicate that the top SOA benefits
organizations aim for are improved data integration (32%), enable legacy
application integration (32%) and integrated disparate department
applications (23%). These are very practical approaches to more cost
effective data management and IT operations. Integration plays to SOA's
strengths, but also ups the stakes for automated testing, as we have
discussed here a bit. You have more heterogeneity, more integration
points and more change than ever - and we are far beyond the point where
manual or UI testing approaches can succeed. These dependencies are also
dynamic, so you need constant validation of business outcomes.
BPM is the next most common SOA application, with an indication that its
use will grow, as 38% of the subjects are planning to use it in the
future. The survey also provides another data source to suggest that SOA
is not dead as 49% of the respondents said their organization has one or
more SOA projects under way. In addition, it is becoming more strategic
as 60% characterize their current or future SOA projects as enterprise
level as opposed to operating simply at the departmental/divisional
level (21%), or single, isolated projects (19%).
We have repeatedly seen SOA used for cost reduction efforts around the
integration of distributed systems and improvement of business
processes. Eric calls this "SOA blocking and tackling," and says a great
deal of it remains to be done. Automated testing and validation provides
the means ensure that SOA meets business goals, while virtualization
eliminates service constraints in the environment, so testing and
validation can continue.>>
You can read this blog at:
http://blog.itko.com/2009/05/soas-entry-practical-points-.html
Gervas
