Real World SOA Presentation Materials

Thanks to all that attended the recent Real World SOA session. Service oriented architecture describes a technology agnostic architecture that is comprised of loosely coupled services that interoperate to perform a desired business function. SOA is not a single technology but a combination of infrastructure, development tools, and networking technologies working together.

While not the only benefit. Reuse is one of the most important advantages of SOA. However, to achieve the maximum benefit, it is important to analyze internal development or management methodologies when looking at SOA. Increased reuse leads to decreased total cost of ownership and improved functional consistency. Loose coupling allows services and partners to integrate easily and in a standard way. However, if the implementation goes against generally accepted organization methodologies the time to value cycle is increased and potential business value is lost.

As we discussed here are a couple of key points to remember as you start looking at SOA.

1. Ensure there are sound business drivers. Many times I have seen customers struggle to justify their SOA projects. It is almost always because they are trying to “do SOA” as opposed to addressing a business need.

2. Top down, big bang, buy this and get going approaches don’t work in the real world. Bottom up approaches are often too difficult to manage. But many successful customers adopt what is called the middle out approach. They start with a clear business challenge and focus on creating business value.

3. Demonstrate value in rapid iterations. Time to value is a critical and healthy metric for businesses.

4. Think about the snowball approach. How do you build a big snowball? Start with a small one and keep adding to it. This is probably one of the most important things to take away in respect to leveraging SOA to drive business.

Download the ppt from here