SOA in Action Blog

Are we really all that "disillusioned" with SOA? That's what analysts and pundits keep trying to tell us. A couple of weeks back, Gartner released a study that said not as many companies were initiating new SOA efforts as before.

We're hearing plenty about "SOA disillusionment," but is this just a few headlines and blogger rants? What's beneath the headlines? Are organizations really feeling disillusioned about SOA, or is it simply too early to tell? Are there actually a lot of emerging success stories underneath the radar? If SOA is a tougher sell, what can SOA proponents do to increase enterprise acceptance?

To answer these questions and more, I will have the pleasure of moderating what will be a scintillating panel discussion as part of next week's SOA in Action virtual conference. In a discussion on "Avoiding SOA Disillusionment," I will be joined by industry luminaries including Phil Wainewright (ZDNet), Dr. Chris Harding (The Open Group), Jignesh Shah (Software AG), David Bressler (Progress Software), and John Michelsen (iITKO).

We will only have an hour, but here are some of the issues I would like to tackle with the panelists:

Virtualization/availability -- Are services too constrained by their owners?

Lack of an architecture approach -- Do too many companies tend to jump into SOA without a roadmap or idea how services will interact?

Trust issues -- How can developers and users be certain services are tested, secure, and scalable?

Organizational domains -- Has 'Big SOA' turned SOA into an internal IT architecture exercise designed to optimize infrastructure, but with no forethought about the business results to be achieved? Is SOA still too much of an "IT" activity?

New paradigms -- What is the relationship between SOA and cloud computing? How can this relationship be better leveraged?

Is SOA too complex? Are there simpler alternatives?

Through our panel discussion and keynotes, ebizQ's third annual SOA in Action virtual conference, we will be highlighting progress in SOA, as well as discussing the work that still needs to be done.

The event kicks off with a keynote by Yefim Natis, VP and distinguished analyst with Gartner Research, who answers the question: "The SOA Journey: Are We There Yet?" He will explain how advanced and enriched forms of service-orientation -- such as event-driven, context-aware, RESTian, federated and object-based flavors of SOA -- might someday render your current SOA software as legacy. Yafim will help us learn about leading edge SOA developments and how to keep abreast of them.

Everybody is worried about the state of the economy nowadays, and we certainly want to keep our IT budgets intact through any storms that blow through. Following Yafim's session, Maneesh Joshi, senior group manager for product marketing at Oracle, will describe the crucial role SOA will play in any downturn in "SOA to the Rescue - Maximizing Your IT budget in a Down Economy." Historically, the strong have used such tumultuous times to get stronger, and Maneesh will explain how this is the best time to plan and equip your organization with the optimal set of tools and capabilities that will minimize your costs now and help you accelerate past your competition while setting you up for leadership during the next boom.

Next, Randy Heffner, VP and analyst with Forrester Research, will share his insights on how SOA can propel your business into the emerging online world in his talk on "SOA: Business Foundation for the Digital Age." Randy will share Forrester's SOA adoption data, which argues that, in large measure, "the truth has lived up to the hype." SOA extends the life of legacy systems, improves application flexibility, and delivers business agility. However, to avoid major pitfalls and actually achieve these benefits, one must understand key best practices for SOA based on business-focused design models for SOA. Business design models also set the foundation for the future of business and IT beyond SOA. This keynote session will show how SOA provides the right foundation for the future of your business in the digital age, and recommend next steps for both SOA novices and SOA specialists.

Join us on November 19th! Register here to join us at this informative event!