For Enterprise Architecture Professionals (Length: 23 pages)

May 14, 2008

Defining Your SOA Platform Strategy

Sorting Through The Confusion Of Overlapping SOA Functions And Features

This is the third document in the "Building Your SOA Platform" series.

by Randy Heffner

with John R. Rymer, Kahini Ranade, Katie Smillie


Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Defining an SOA platform is not as simple as some in the industry make it out to be. Serious pursuit of service-oriented architecture (SOA) requires new and different characteristics in your application infrastructure. New product categories such as SOA repositories and enterprise service buses (ESBs) provide part of what's needed, but vendors are also making SOA enhancements to existing product categories such as application servers and IT management software. An effective SOA platform must be a cohesive integration of both new and existing products. Why? To deal with the many feature and function overlaps between specialty products, to manage feature and function overlap between specialty products and existing software infrastructure, and to achieve the smooth handoffs among SOA platform elements necessary to attain high quality of service (QoS) for your services. Sorting through the confusion requires that architects define their SOA platforms function-first — starting with the specific design and architecture characteristics of SOA — and not product-first (like some in the industry do). Forrester presents a model for defining a comprehensive SOA platform.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

NOTES & RESOURCES

itemThe Breadth And Depth Of An SOA Platform

itemThe Major Functional Areas, Boundaries, And Features Of An SOA Platform

itemMajor Touchpoints Between An SOA Platform And Other Infrastructure

itemSorting Through The Confusion Of Overlapping Product Categories

itemExamples Of How IT Vendors Deal With Overlap

itemEnd User Examples Of Dealing With Overlap

itemAlternate Perspectives On A Function-First Approach

recommendations

itemDefine Your Strategic SOA Platform Function-First, Not Product-First

itemSupplemental Material

Forrester interviewed 13 vendor and user companies, including Accenture, BEA Systems, Credit Suisse Group, EDS, IONA Technologies, MassMutual Life Insurance, Pacific Blue Cross Health Benefits Society, and US Department of the Interior.

Related Research Documents

itemSOA Investment Strategies

May 19, 2006

itemReal-World SOA: SOA Platform Case Studies

September 15, 2005

itemYour Paths To Service-Oriented Architecture

December 7, 2004

Find Documents In Related Categories

This document falls under the following categories. Click on a link below to find similar documents.

Analyst: Randy Heffner
Technology: Application Development, Application Strategy & Selection, Architecture & Technology Strategy, Packaged Applications, SOA & Web Services
Geography: Asia Pacific, Europe, North America

Archived Teleconference:
SOA Governance: The Practices That Most Ensure Success
Original air date: Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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Ratings and Comments
Rating: 10 out of 10
based on 3 ratings across all roles.
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