The SOA concept -- developing a software architecture based on service components that can be mixed and matched as needed to reduce development time and increase application deployment flexibility -- is only a few years old, but the providers of SOA-supporting infrastructure are fast consolidating. Oracle captured the headlines with its acquisition of BEA Systems this spring, and Progress Software recently bought Iona Technologies.
That means the choices for infrastructure providers -- from enterprise service buses (ESBs) to shared code repositories -- is shrinking just as more companies are exploring SOA. A few vendors such as IBM and Oracle now offer the convenience of a soup-to-nuts SOA platform, but at the risk of locking in their customers to a proprietary stack or selling them more than they need as part of a suite or package.
For example, Delaware Electric had to fend off IBM's attempt to sell more than the utility needed, says CFO Garry Cripps. "IBM behaved like most vendors I deal with: They tried to up-sell me for the highest horsepower whether I needed it or not," he says. (Cripps is pleased with the IBM WebSphere Process Server he did buy to manage SOA services.)
Vendors such as Hewlett-Packard, Itko, Software AG, Tibco, and WSO2 that offer specific SOA platform components will continue to exist. But some of them fear that because their customers increasingly are using platform offerings from the large vendors, they could be displaced by the larger vendor, either because it offers a similar component or doesn't integrate well with the smaller vendor's tool.
For example, Software AG says that IBM's claim of integration with and accommodation of other vendors' products is misleading, putting it at a disadvantage.
Not as simple as "soup to nuts" versus "best of breed"
But the choices in the SOA market are not so clearly between proprietary but integrated stacks and "best of breed," but rather nonintegrated components, says Randy Heffner, a Forrester Research analyst. That's because by its nature, SOA uses standard interfaces such as SOAP, WSDL, BPEL, and XML to connect services to each other. Thus, even a large vendor like IBM is forced to compete with a startup like WSO2.
In a true SOA approach, individual services can run over proprietary infrastructure, but the interfaces among them typically adhere to the established standards. That reduces lock-in risk to the infrastructure, not the applications running over them, Heffner says -- but only if IT avoids vendors' proprietary extensions to those standards. "There are a lot of extensions beyond the specifications," he notes.
Also, because most SOA efforts seek to reuse existing applications wherever possible, IT will have to do custom coordination no matter how integrated the SOA platform. That helps blunt the "one provider" argument.
"With SOA, there's a lot of legacy products, so you have to write your own pieces," said Brad Svee, manager of IT development at Concur Technologies, a provider of expense reporting and travel management services.
Enterprise architects assembling an SOA have three strategies, according to a recent Forrester study by Heffner. These include a single-vendor, "best of breed," or specialized approach (using a proprietary framework developed for or by the company).
Latest on SOA
- Centrelink ups IT reform, keeps Model 204 'legacy'
- Google secure data tool ties Apps to company data
- SOA evolving thanks to cloud computing: Gartner
- iTKO touts Web 2.0, virtualization in test product
- Eclipse to detail platform, SOA plans at conference
- State of SOA pondered again
- GlaxoSmithKline deal highlights overseas launch by Microsoft
- HP adds to apps performance management pack
- The cloud-SOA connection
- Microsoft contributes code to Apache SOA project
Software Essentials
- Ballmer: Yahoo acquisition won't happen
- Sun is a software company, new top shareholder says
- Forecast has Office, Vista going in opposite directions
- Interview with The Pirate Bay founder
- The future of software testing
- Bill Gates predicts software revolution
- 'Warez' software pirate sentenced to probation
- Mobile app development moves beyond CRM, but slowly
- Tibco backing Microsoft Silverlight
- Most top banks already using virtualization
TechWorld Jobs (beta)
Recent Jobs
TechWorld Blogs
-

TalkingTech
The view from the top of IT with TechWorld Editor Rodney Gedda
-

Entrenched
Cooking up better code, IDG's developers reveal some of their secrets
-

Broadband Voice
Darren Pauli digs in from the front line of Australia's broadband battleground
Recent blog posts
- Nokia remains 'open' to Android amid Symbian renaissance
- KDE's Seigo gives sneak peek at version 4.3
- Was the iPhone 3G S worth queuing up for?
- Has Oracle started its mammoth technology consolidation?
- iPhone 3.0: the detail is the process, not the features
- TechWorld.com.au goes mobile
- Should Dell buy Palm? Stranger things have happened
- A big week for Linux: is user friendliness finally in sight?
- Apple, Android rain on Palm's Pre parade
- The clone attack is becoming unstoppable
Recent comments
- State your Prediction and
16 hours 33 min ago - Yes I have seen them.Actually
17 hours 25 min ago - PSP Nintendo
1 day 8 hours ago - Interesting report. You were
2 days 4 hours ago - Are you sure it is in Sydney?
2 days 16 hours ago - The mobile market has
2 days 23 hours ago - Great news.
Sms spam should
3 days 20 hours ago - now what am I gonna do with
3 days 23 hours ago - ozlotteries.com not ozlotto.cm
4 days 1 hour ago - OLAT Release
4 days 11 hours ago - and i was sure i would win...
4 days 15 hours ago - Hi SolidRadicle,
I am looking
4 days 16 hours ago - Not if I can help it
4 days 16 hours ago - Ozlotto Tips Scam
4 days 20 hours ago - Great post.
It's very
4 days 20 hours ago - Excellent review! I'm glad
6 days 17 hours ago - iTunes Helper
1 week 2 days ago - Update the link to OrangeHRM web site
1 week 2 days ago - Very informative article
1 week 3 days ago - Google Chrome is still being directed to bing instead of google
1 week 3 days ago










Comments
SOA requires increased modularity and granularity from Vendor SW
SOA's underlying principle implies business can choose the services to enable delivery of their business processes, however most web services vendors provide to access their application functionality are not at the right level of granularity to incorporate, and lack of modularity requires implementing the complete application stack for one service.
Post new comment