SOA Infrastructure: The Importance of Management in Enterprise-Class SOA

While core Web services standards successfully address the mechanics of allowing applications to talk to one another, a successful SOA implementation requires addressing the challenges that lie beyond the pure mechanics of communication -- zeroing in, in addition, on SOA infrastructure. Now, especially, global organizations are implementing enterprise SOA – and are demanding tools and assistance to meet the challenges offered up by this class of applications. This white paper discusses the world-class SOA governance solutions Actional offers to meet these needs and the underlying SOA infrastructure.

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SOA Infrastructure: Strategies for Meeting Global Enterprise-Class Challenges

The service-oriented architecture (SOA) has been held out for nearly two decades as a substantially more cost-effective and flexible strategy for constructing enterprise software systems than historical approaches including monolithic system design and tightly coupled client server models. Many enterprise CIOs and industry observers believe Web services, SOA infrastructure, and the unprecedented universal vendor support of the underlying standards, will finally make practical widespread SOA adoption.

There is clear evidence that not only is the adoption of SOA infrastructure and standards practical, but that the process is well underway in the Global 2000. It is impossible to ignore the daily drumbeat of case studies, articles and speeches from Global 2000 CIOs declaring their adoption of Web services-based service-oriented architectures as high-priority strategic IT initiatives.

  • Robert A. Bonomo, senior vice president of enterprise technology at OppenheimerFunds, recently told The New York Times, "When a technology this sophisticated makes so much sense for the business, it has legs. This is not a flash in the pan."
  • Toby Redshaw, CTO at wireless device and chip manufacturer Motorola, said his company is also forging ahead with a service-oriented architecture model because "it gives us a chance to dig into the guts of manufacturing processes. Barriers we’ve had forever are going to come down."
  • Gartner Group predicts that service-oriented architectures, built on Web services technology, will move to the mainstream in 2003 because "the fact is that Web services are pivotal to future actively managed, flexible and responsive enterprise architecture. It is not possible to sit back while competitors explore this territory without risking that they will open a strategic business lead [companies] will find hard to close."

The IT Bottleneck in a World of Monolithic Systems

In the past, enterprise software systems were complex, monolithic behemoths. The complexity of these systems made them difficult to fully understand and therefore leverage. There were limited integration points allowing reuse of the embodied business information and processes. This resulted in islands of automation with costly duplication of information across systems. Information flows between applications were limited, preventing the delivery of information to the people and systems that could best utilize it.

Even more damaging to the organization, these systems were difficult to change. Modifications, upgrades and enhancements were time consuming, costly and risky. Since these systems embodied the business processes of the organization, IT frequently became the bottleneck in attempts to adapt the business to changing market conditions.

The very systems that were built to bring automation and efficiency to the processes of the organization now prevent the organization from maintaining efficiency as business conditions change. In a pre-SOA world, modifying applications and systems is difficult and costly.

Pre-SOA Systems Cause Inefficiency

The very systems that were built to bring automation and efficiency to the processes of the organization now prevent the organization from maintaining efficiency as business conditions change. In a pre-SOA world, modifying applications and systems was difficult and costly. This tutorial will illuminate these issues and suggest paths for moving forward with SOA. The following topics are covered:

For More Information

Find out how to build a robust SOA infrastructure – including SOA governance: download the free webinar, Runtime Governance