The SOA-Virtualization Connection: Is This a Good Thing?

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May 13, 2007

The SOA-Virtualization Connection: Is This a Good Thing?

You can look at the SOA-virtualization connection two ways: one, SOA itself is a form of 'application virtualization,' in which components are represented and made accessible via an abstraction layer, or, two, since SOA workloads can be unpredictable, infrastructure virtualization allows for the right allocation of processing resources when needed.

Recently, one of my colleagues here at ebizQ, Gian Trotta, spoke with Ken Oestreich, product management director for Cassatt Software, about the ways virtualization can improve SOA management. (Listen to the podcast here.)

According to Oestreich, virtualization offers a great deal of potential benefits in terms of performance and agility, in part because it offers operating system and platform independence, meaning companies don’t need to make system-wide changes in order to use the software. A pooled, automated approach gives IT management a faster time to market -– in effect, dropping an application into a pool of resources without the need for traditional consolidation planning.

There has been a lot of discussion across the industry and the blogosphere around the SOA-virtualization connection. For example, late last year, Butler Group issued some research that also discusses the convergence of SOA and virtualization (but keeps the two concepts separated). The analyst firm found in a survey that 69% of companies have put into place or have piloted virtualization solutions against their servers and other infrastructure components, while only eight percent have working SOAs in place.

However, the report notes, while many organizations are moving to server and storage virtualization to abstract those resources, but the real value comes from abstracting software through SOA: "The use of server and storage virtualization technology is bringing significant benefits, including the creation of a more flexible pool of IT resources better able to support consolidation and optimization strategies, along with improved workload management, and much better utilization of hardware. This will become a key element of infrastructure flexibility that will see rapid growth over the next two years. The move towards a SOA is a key element of software flexibility, and will fundamentally change the way in which software applications are designed, developed, and deployed."

Udi Paret, a Silicon Valley enterprise software executive, said perhaps more SOA-style thinking is needed to extract more value from system virtualization. Speaking at a conference, he observed that "the recent shift towards virtualization – virtual servers, virtual networks and virtualized storage – is only compounding the problem [of data center sprawl]. …the total number of entities to be managed continues to skyrocket. The focus is simply too tactical; the level of abstraction is too low."

Paret urges a shift to what he calls "service-oriented infrastructure," which "operating system for data centers" that "can automatically reallocate hardware, software, systems, connections, etc., in terms of high-level, service-driven objectives, as business conditions change, or response to problems or catastrophes, to keep service at guaranteed levels."

InfoWorld's Tom Yager is not so keen on the SOA-virtualization connection, branding the concept "virtualization oriented architecture," which pulls the nitty-gritty of data center management together with SOA principles, and issued this warning: "VOA calls to mind the use of virtualization to make SOAs more durable, mobile, and versatile. I can see SOA and virtualization — brilliant, simple technologies — pairing to devolve into an enterprise Frankenstein of ultimately unmanageable complexity."

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