Infrastructure - CIOInsight

Home

Infrastructure

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Demystified

Infrastructure Slideshow:
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Demystified

By Dennis McCafferty on 2011-01-26

As CIO, you may appreciate the benefits of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) but it's not always so easy to explain to your business-side colleagues. Because of this, you need to “sell” your organizations on SOA as a business-focused enterprise innovation, rather than trying to explain its technical capabilities to corporate decision-makers, according to authors Kerrie Holley and Ali Arsanjani. Their book "100 SOA Questions: Asked and Answered" (Prentice Hall/Available now) decodes the many mysteries that muddle perspectives on what exactly SOA is. It also addresses how SOA can help organizations become nimble and responsive to rapidly changing market shifts. In a clear, conversational manner, the book provides a blueprint for how you can make the most of SOA in your organization. Holley is CTO of IBM's SOA Center of Excellence. Arsanjani is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and CTO for SOA and Emerging Technologies. Here are selected highlights:

	LATEST STORIES
	- IT Careers: Departures Mark Exec Shuffles at... - Microsoft Office on iPads, Android Tablets C... - Quest Software Acquisition Would Bolster Del... - N.J. Mayor, Son Arrested for Computer Hackin... - Why HP's Next Leader Should Come from Within...

BLOGS

Tim Moran: CIOs Go To Market

Tony Kontzer: Fed CIO Aims to Root Out IT Waste

Tony Kontzer: Imagine There are No CIOs

Tony Kontzer: Will the Cloud Solve Federal IT Security?

Tony Kontzer: Privacy, Security and the CIO

John Parkinson: When Good DR Goes Bad

Tony Kontzer: What's So Special About iCloud?

Tony Kontzer: Farewell Kundra, We Hardly Knew Ya

More blogs >>

What is SOA?

For the CIO, SOA is a way to combine and recombine applications/tools to improve organizational capabilities and business logic.

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Demystified - Infrastructure

What does SOA mean to the CIO who thinks like a business manager?

It means business processes are no longer locked in application silos. The CIO and his/her IT teams are no longer viewed by business-side execs as inhibitors to changing strategic needs.

How does a CIO get the CFO invested in SOA?

By presenting documentation that SOA will increase revenues, reduce business processing cycles and cut the time and cost needed for systems integration.

What other business metrics can be used to measure the effectiveness of an organization's SOA?

Reduction in resources needed to maintain code. Reduction in cost for fixing code-related problems. Reduced cost of building interfaces/infrastructure to support application integration.

How can SOA improve productivity?

It shrinks the hours needed for staff to build a service. It reduces project-delivery times, and even may lower the number of projects needed for delivery.

Three most common barriers to successful business execution of SOA

1. Investing in training of IT staff on SOA, but not training the business side.

Three most common barriers to successful business execution of SOA

2. Designating SOA for a specific project or projects, while failing to implement it across the enterprise.

Three most common barriers to successful business execution of SOA

3. A lack of metrics gathering to realize the full potential of SOA.

SOA services are described as “stateless." Why?

It means they neither remember the last task they were “asked to do” nor care what the one next is. Services are not dependent on the context or state of other services – only their present-day purpose and functionality.

Why does an SOA interface need to be self-describing?Because it must contain all the information needed for a user to discover and connect. Otherwise, it will sit there in the enterprise like an “orphan,” unused or underused.

How does “loose coupling” play a key role in an optimal SOA structure?

Loose coupling allows a mechanism of one IT service to call another without being tightly bound to it.

How does the concept of service “reuse” apply in SOA?

SOA presents individual IT services as a “black box” of business functionality that can be accessed with new facades as technology changes.

Two key “black box” uses of SOA today:
Web-based apps on the cloud.
Mobile solutions.

Three “black box” deployments of SOA tomorrow:

Virtual worlds
3D devices
The “spoken Web”

Recent Slideshows

Apple's MacBook Pro: 10 Reasons It Belongs in the Workplace
View Slideshow >

10 Ways to Develop Your Tech Talent
View Slideshow >

10 Products Apple Should Launch In the Next Year
View Slideshow >

With More Budget Comes Greater Responsibility for CIOs
View Slideshow >

CIOs and Lawyers: A Match Made in Heaven or Hell?
View Slideshow >

Writing Effective Email: Resist These 10 Cardinal Sins
View Slideshow >

View All Slideshows >

FEATURED SPONSORED VIDEOS

Security and Availability Essentials for Running Your Business in the Cloud

Cyber Security Trends and Challenges for 2012

IPv6 Integration and Migration

View More Videos

Brought to You By

FEATURED SPONSORED ARTICLES

Erasable E-Paper Saves Trees, Cuts Costs

Why Smart Companies Should Adopt the Lessons of Gaming

Interest in Mobile WiFi Hotspots Fuels New Solutions

A Closer Look at Public Cloud Security

View More Articles

Brought to You By


		Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Introducing the world's first family of systems with integrated expertise FREE Securing Smartphones & Tablets for Dummies Book from Sophos 77% of the Fortune 500 Manage Content Securely with Box. Leverage your virtual computing environment with Dell. Build an IT Infrastructure That Delivers the Future 5 New Technologies That Will Change Enterprise IT

CIO Insight:	Issue Index \| Contact Us \| About \| Advertise \| Magazine Customer Service \| Site Map
Quick Links:	Enterprise Mobility Zone \| Management Case Studies \| Loyalty Programs \| Term Sheet \| Strategy Maps \| Organizational Behavior \| Net Present Value Calculator \| Link to Us
	Security: Network Security Entprise Networking Infrastructure Security How To: Data IT Security News Cheap Hack Blog Security Watch Blog Storage: Storage Cloud Storage Storage Virtualization Network Access Storage Storage Reviews Data Storage News How To: Storage Storage Station Blog Computing: Apple OSX Linux Systems Windows Vista Managed Print Services Cloud Computing PC Reviews Microsoft Watch Blog Apple Watch Blog Google Watch Blog Communications: VoIP Solutions Wireless Technology Messaging Software Web Services Mobile Applications Wireless News Mobile Reviews Apps & Development: Application Development SAAS Search Engines Database Software Web 2.0 IT Project Management Emerging Tech Blog CIO Insight Blogs CIOs
	Vertical Markets: Federal Government IT Health Care IT Finance IT Mid-Market Channel Partners Careers Blog Value Added Resellers More eWeek Links: Green Computing Tech Knowledge Center Tech Newsletters Tech RSS Feeds White Papers Tech Podcasts Tech Videos Magazine Subscriptions Enterprise Websites: ZDE Home eWeek Baseline Channel Insider CIO Insight eSeminars eWeek Mid-Market Publish Online Web Buyers Guide Developer Websites: Dev Shed DeveloperShed ASP Free MS DevSource SEO Chat Codewalkers Tutorialized Scripts.com Dev Mechanic Dev Articles Web Hosters Dev Hardware Technology Websites: Device Forge Desktop Linux Linux Devices Windows for Devices TechDirect iGrep Search Engine PDF Zone Linux Watch
	Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Copyright ©1996-2012 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. eWEEK and Spencer F. Katt are trademarks of Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings, Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc. is prohibited. eWeek is your best source for the latest Technology News. ZDE Cluster 6.

Infrastructure Slideshow:Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Demystified

What is SOA?

What does SOA mean to the CIO who thinks like a business manager?

How does a CIO get the CFO invested in SOA?

What other business metrics can be used to measure the effectiveness of an organization's SOA?

How can SOA improve productivity?

Three most common barriers to successful business execution of SOA

Three most common barriers to successful business execution of SOA

Three most common barriers to successful business execution of SOA

SOA services are described as “stateless." Why?

How does “loose coupling” play a key role in an optimal SOA structure?

How does the concept of service “reuse” apply in SOA?

Two key “black box” uses of SOA today:Web-based apps on the cloud. Mobile solutions.

Three “black box” deployments of SOA tomorrow:

Recent Slideshows

Advertisement

Infrastructure Slideshow:
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Demystified

Two key “black box” uses of SOA today:
Web-based apps on the cloud.
Mobile solutions.