SOA: Preparing Your Business & IT Products - Session 6

Overview

This is the sixth and final session in the series on Service-oriented Architecture. Unlike the previous sessions, this one is focused on the technology that is used to turn SOA from a business tool into commercial advantage. A lot of the discussion that follows concerns Web Services. Web Services is one technology that can be used to realise SOA but it is important to remember that it is NOT the only technology. However, Web Services is the only technology that is currently available to realise SOA. As far as this discussion is concerned, the newly touted Web-oriented Architecture is just a flavour of Web Services.

Of all the material covered in the six sessions, it is this content which is most susceptible to change. Across the World, there is a large amount of development effort in making it easier to implement Web Services. There are a lot of relevant standards being developed and in many cases these are undergoing significant revision as we gain more implementation experience. Likewise, the tool-sets that make it possible to create a Web Service solution are also being changed and improved. Therefore, it is important to spend some time ensuring that any of the following recommendations still reflect the agreed best practices.