SOA Commentary
Please comment on Services-Oriented Architecture (current state and future viability).
Services is one of the most overused and least commonly defined words in IT today (discussing Services in both SOA and Managed Services contexts at the same time makes for a challenging conversation). A close runner-up is Architecture.
Having them both in the name of an IT construct still somewhat frightens me.
My comments today on SOA will be brief. I believe that SOA is a new, fancy IT-ism for an older concept called Enterprise Architecture carried to its logical conclusion or goal.
Enterprise Architecture is all about common business services as instantiated in technology. That happens via an end-to-end EA process reaching back to the business. SOA simply articulates that differently. The technology behind them is the same.
I’m not sure if SOA has the staying power of EA. If pressed, I’d speculate that SOA would eventually diminish in the IT lexicon, as EA efforts are successful in reaching the same goal using processes in place now.
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Hello, my name is Eric Davis, and I’m the author of IT STRAIGHT TALK. After 25 years in various transformational IT roles with Fortune 100 Companies, I wanted to share my beliefs, knowledge and experience in IT leadership and create a small community where folks can discuss executive business and IT issues – and maybe solve a problem or two.
I’m currently a CIO Advisor on large-scale IT and Operations Transformation, and COO of an Internet-based start-up company, GreenSource America (www.greensourceamerica.com).
My past executive roles include:
- Delphi Corporation, Head of Global Architecture and Infrastructure
- United Airlines, Chief of Technology
- Capital One Financial Services, Divisional CIO – Card Operations, Head of Technology Services Group
- First USA Bank (now part of JPMC Card Services) SVP of IT Operations, Divisional CIO – Private Label, Divisional CIO – First Commerce Bank of Louisiana, VP Development – Corporate and Risk Services
I am an avid outdoorsman and enjoy photography, collecting LGB model trains and various shooting sports. My wonderful wife of 19 years, Janine, son Max, daughter Michal and I (plus two dogs and two guinea pigs) reside in Kildeer, IL.
Eric and "Fishzilla" (deceased)
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Hi Eric,
I actually see SOA as a tool for achieving EA. EA partially involves rationalizing the entire set of business functionality for an enterprise into the smallest amount of code and components without sacrificing too much. You strive to optimize the app portfolio, determine what is common/reusable and then strive to eliminate the redundancy.
Achieving the goal of common services in a real-time enterprise simply becomes incredibly easier with SOA and the technological advances of the past decade. There are standards-based ways to define contracts, security and numerous other concerns. These standards are vendor-neutral. Architects begin to think in terms of applications and service inventory. Composite applications can be assembled from the service inventory a lot faster than doing it the old way (it’s still hard work, though).
I’ve been working on an SOA strategy at my present company for about three years now. While it’s not perfect yet and probably will never be, I see us achieving a lot of success with it.