Typically, vertical SOA solutions are built around standards such as RosettaNet, UCCnet, and ebXML for MRD; HIPPA for health care; as well as GSTP, Omgeo, and SWIFT for finance. However, we’ll spend the most time on supply chain integration as a concept, which is becoming more important as we move closer to the real-time economy.

Clearly, middleware and Web services is taking on properties that are more business application-like, something that flies in the face of the traditional middleware role of linking one application to the next. At the time middleware first appeared, EAI had not yet emerged as a new set of technologies and a new discipline, so the notion of domain-specific middleware seemed a bit far-fetched.

Today, it’s a new world. As we look to add more value to SOA, many SOA technology vendors have announced their movement into more vertical domains, including finance, health care, and manufacturing.

So, why create vertical-specific subsystems using SOA? It’s really about providing more out-of-the-box value to the end user, moving well up the stack to business process and logic layers, and creating reusable behavior applicable to a vertical business domain such as finance, health care, manufacturing/retail/distribution (MRD), and telecom. Moreover, specific standards-based connectivity and transformation solutions provide value, such as HIPPA processing for health care, or GSTP (Global Straight Through Processing) TFM (Transaction Flow Manager) connections for finance. We can also add supply chain integration to that list using standards such as ebXML, RosettaNet, and EDI.

The merger of SOA technology and vertical-specific applications and SOA standards is a natural evolution. Indeed, most SOA technology vendors are working toward providing common SOA infrastructure along with specific vertical extension. Sometimes these are mere libraries of code but services are better, sometimes completed bolt-on or stand-alone applications. The objective is to provide additional value to the end user, making the SOA technology that much more valuable.

As we move forward we are going to see these “high-in-the-stack” vertically aligned applications become more widespread, and with the rise of vertical standards, such as HIPPA and STP, these will become even more important. The downside is the additional complexity, and the fact that many need to get their own SOA house in order before attempting to move towards vertical solution. You have to move up the stack, never down the stack.