The most popular and comprehensive Open Source ECM platform
Let us know more
SOA: Hype Diminishes around SOA, but Usage Increases
A new report by Forrester Research finds that Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) is still alive and well. SOA is a set of design principles based on the use of interoperable services for developing and integrating computer systems. SOA had long been a focus of IT hype, but Cloud Computing, Mobile applications and Social Media have been the main occupants of IT headlines over the last couple of years.
In January 2009, Anne Thomas Manes of the Burton Group declared SOA dead, and later clarified her meaning that the ‘architecture’ foundation of SOA was flawed, but that interoperable services will dominate the future. In the months following her announcement, a furious dialog for and against the idea of SOA ensued. Two years later, SOA has not gone away, in fact, usage of SOA has only increased.
The Forrester report by Randy Heffner found that by the end of 2011, 71 percent of large enterprises will be using SOA within their IT infrastructure, and more than half of small and medium sized companies will be using it too. The industry groups that are most fully using SOA include utilities, telecom, finance and insurance. Of those companies using SOA now, 77 percent said that they are satisfied with it, and 31 percent said that SOA met or exceeded all of their expected goals.
The report notes that “many well-meaning people in the industry cast SOA as simply a way to do application integration, thus making it seem irrelevant to anyone whose integration problems seem to be under control. Others make it sounds like SOA takes a huge investment to get started. Neither of these perspectives is true.” Forrester recommends that companies recognize SOA as a strategic business investment in building best-practice IT infrastructure. “…you can start small and evolve toward SOA maturity.”
