Preface

Authoring this book involved nearly a year of writing, research, and staying on top of a subject matter that is constantly expanding its reach and importance. Although the majority of the chapters focus on service-oriented architecture from a vendor-neutral perspective, achieving an accurate representation of this perspective required that I spend a great deal of time evaluating SOA support in all primary vendor platforms. As part of this research stage I spoke with over a hundred senior IT professionals, either through interviews or through my work as an awards judge evaluating platform submissions.

The most interesting facet of this work has been in defining service-orientation within the context of Web services. While studying the individual parts of what constitutes service-orientation as a paradigm, I came to realize just how many of its roots lie in past innovations. Yet, at the same time, it is distinct, blending traditional and new concepts in support of a unique architectural model.

Despite its apparent "newness" SOA is, on a fundamental level, based on a very old and established school of thought. Service-orientation, as a means of separating things into independent and logical units, is a very common concept. As I progressed through these chapters I began to notice this more often in everyday life. Items, people, organizations we come into contact with either offer some form of service or participate in performing a service. However, once applied to a technology architecture, service-orientation is concerned with a specific part of our service-oriented world: business automation.

Competitive businessclimates demand that corporations minimize redundant effort and maximize the expediency with which strategic goals can be achieved. Inefficient organizations that consistently waste resources are bound to fall behind and disappear. The manner in which an organization automates its business is a primary factor in the ultimate success of its ventures. This is what makes SOA so valuable. By shaping automation logic through service-orientation, existing work can be leveraged and inherent automation agility can be achieved.

Further, because service-orientation is a natural part of our world, automation designs that incorporate its principles can more accurately represent real world requirements. In other words, service-oriented solutions can be shaped to mirror business intelligence. This allows for an organization's automation environment to evolve in alignment with the business for which it is providing automation.

When coupled with service-orientation, the Web services technology platform offers some powerful ideals and a significant benefit potential that can transform both the technology and outlook of an organization. I hope you will enjoy exploring this potential as we delve into the world of SOA.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.