Is SOA -- built upon Service Component Architecture and augmented by Web 2.0 approaches -- the ultimate corporate stimulus package?
That's the theme of a recent IBM-hosted Webcast entitled "SOA in a Down Economy: Using Rational Application Developer with WebSphere Application Server to Increase Productivity."
The only objection I have is to the title, on two counts. First, I think it should have included "Web 2.0," because, as pointed out by the speakers, the principles and practices of Web 2.0 are becoming part of SOA. Second, the Webcast should been called "SOA and Web 2.0 in a Renewing Economy," because SOA/Web 2.0 are part of a long-term transformative process that looks well beyond a company's current economic state. I firmly believe that service-oriented practices will lead organizations down new paths to growth.
The emerging SOA-Web 2.0 power duo was explored in some detail by Chris Brealey, senior technical staff member for IBM Rational Software. "At IBM, we strongly believe in service oriented architecture and Web 2.0 as two styles or sets of principles that are extremely complementary, and both endeavor to provide a means for you to achieve great agility and great heterogeneity," he said.
Erik Kristiansen, product manager
for IBM WebSphere Application Server, reiterated this stance, noting that "IBM regards Web 2.0 as an extension of SOA," and this relationship is
now embedded into into the WebSphere and Rational product lines. "Service component architecture is an open standards programming model developed by a number of vendors in the
open, specifically to address the requests of SOA programming. SOA can
lead to more productivity and agility for your development teams."
The Web 2.0 platform "is largely a complementary or an extension of the SOA foundation," Kristiansen said. "As far as app infrastructure, largely when you're talking about Web
2.0, you're talking about Rich Internet Applications, or Ajax
development, and the idea of extending services out to new consumers of
applications through REST, Atom and RSS web
feeds. What we've done in the WebSphere and Rational portfolio are
largely focused on those two ideas." Features that
enable support for these initiatives in Rational include support for
Ajax--for building rich clients and capabilities based on the Java EE 5 enterprise
platform. These two worlds are brought together via Service Component
Architecture (SCA), he added.
"SOA can help you to adapt to change," Brealey pointed out. "It can help you to lead change. SOA principles help you to reduce operating costs through reuse of your existing assets and extending the reach of your existing assets to wider consumers on your business. It can improve your general competitiveness and lower cost, and raise agility, reuse, and fundamentally, revenue."
Leveraging SOA and Web 2.0 to renew economic growth will be an important theme at IBM's upcoming "IMPACT" conference, to be held May 3-8 in Las Vegas.
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