SOA - Substance or hype?
IT professionals today are now much more on their guard against IT industry hype and spin than they have ever been, and IT vendors have become very wary of their offerings and initiatives acquiring the "marketing hype" label. Yet few major vendors have been able to resist the lure of positioning around Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) as the "next big thing" in software development and integration. So is there any substance here or is it all just hype to stimulate another wave of technology spending? We consider the views gathered during a study involving over 1350 IT Professionals to help us answer this question.
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Author/s:
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Clive Longbottom |
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Created:
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01/06/2005
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Filename:
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SOA_-_Substance_or_Hype_(June_2005).pdf
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- A third of medium and large organisations have now taken a close look at SOA
476 (35%) of the 1356 IT professionals interviewed as part of a worldwide research study conducted in the first quarter of 2005 said they had looked at SOA "in-depth". A further 31% indicated knowledge, but at a high level only. Knowledge and awareness of SOA amongst the IT professional community is thus now very significant.
- Those that have looked at SOA in-depth are unanimous in acknowledging significant benefits
Just 4 (less than 1%) of the 476 "informed" respondents said SOA offered no significant benefit in any area. Over 99% acknowledged significant benefits in areas such as streamlining the development and deployment process, streamlining the maintenance process, reducing integration overhead, and enabling IT to be more responsive to the business. Benefits concerned with optimising use of resources at execution time were also noted, particularly in a grid computing environment where SOA can enable finer control. Respondents varied in where they put the emphasis, but about two thirds of them acknowledged benefits in each of these individual areas.
- Packaged application vendors are on the right track with their move towards SOA and componentisation
Over 70% of informed respondents saw the implementation of SOA by key packaged application vendors as being of significant benefit from an interfacing and integration perspective. As integration work represents a large portion of the initial and ongoing cost of implementing and running ERP and CRM systems, the potential benefit here is substantial
- Web Services are viewed as a key enabler of B2B interactions
Over 85% of informed respondents said there was a role for Web Services in facilitating direct connections between their systems and those of their partners, customers and/or suppliers. With most organisations relying on telephone and e-mail as the primary B2B transaction mechanisms, the application of Web Services in this area could be considered a key enabler.
- SOA and Web Services may help to clear the path to more hosted services
Almost 80% of informed respondents said the Web Services standards and SOA could potentially make integration between in-house systems and hosted applications easier to manage. This could overcome one of the common problems associated with selective outsourcing in particular, which in turn could broaden the market for the latest generation of application service providers.
- SOA adoption is only just getting off the ground, but the indicators are positive
Less than one fifth of total respondents said they were currently active with SOA, but another quarter indicated plans to adopt SOA over the coming year. Even allowing for some optimism in responses, indications are that SOA activity is set to grow steadily. Both adoption and intentions are highest in North America, closely followed by Europe, with the Asia Pacific region trailing.
CONCLUSION
The results of the research presented herein suggest the high levels of commitment to SOA and Web Services that we see within the vendor community are mirrored by the receptiveness and enthusiasm of end-user organisations. This, along with substantial ongoing investment in both R&D and promotion by IT vendors, means that proliferation of the SOA approach is almost inevitable. The bottom line is that SOA appears to be made up of much more substance than hype.
