For several years, software vendors have been creating development and
infrastructure products for the latest IT architecture style - Service
Oriented Architecture (SOA). Recognizing the immense value SOA can bring to
IT, companies like BEA, IBM, and Microsoft have delivered products to help
customers design and build SOA-based applications. These vendor-driven
initiatives are beginning to sprout actual customer-developed applications
that are built on the promise of SOA, such as better flexibility, agility and
reuse.
In fact, enterprises of all sizes are increasingly using SOA concepts and
technologies to create a new generation of mission-critical business
applications, ranging from "simple" portals to incredibly complex and
feature-rich integration applications. The... (more)