June 23, 2009

4 SOA myths busted

When it comes to SOA, there is still a lot of misinformation out there

There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to SOA. While you would think that after all these years we would know better, there are many SOA myths out there that are in need of busting or at least some clarification.

Myth 1: SOA has a huge ROI.
While SOA typically has some ROI, the size of the ROI varies greatly among businesses and problem domains. Truth be told, the amount of ROI is largely dependent on the nature of the business. The more dynamic and changing, the more SOA has value: less value, if the business is static, and does not change much. Keep in mind that the core value of SOA is agility.

[ Effective architecture is key to business flexibility, agility, and efficiency. Keep up on developments in SOA with InfoWorld's Technology: Architecture newsletter. ]

Myth 2: SOA is about new technology.
We've beat this one to death, but I still hear people talk about SOA as something that comes in a box. It's something you do, of course, not something you buy. Enough said.

Myth 3: Cloud computing will soon replace SOA.
I hear this too many times these days, as well. SOA is an approach to architecture. Cloud computing is a way of deploying aspects of architecture, including SOA. They are related, but very different. I just wrote a book on this issue, and I hope a lot of people read it, considering the confusion here.

Myth 4: SOA is dead.
SOA as an acronym is perhaps in jeopardy long term. However, SOA is an architectural pattern around decomposing an architecture down to its primitives and building it up again as sets of services that can be configured and reconfigured into solution. This concept predates "SOA" and will be around a long time after we stop discussing SOA.

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soaindia 9-Sep-09 4:37am
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