SOAs are creating opportunities for enterprises grappling with regulatory compliance challenges and seeking creative data sharing with key partners and customers, according to a group of IT executives speaking during a panel discussion at the InfoWorld SOA Executive Forum.

Compliance represents a major opportunity with SOA, according to Jon Udell, editor and lead analyst at InfoWorld. Udell moderated the panel discussion that explored various opportunities and challenges with enterprise SOA implementations.

In light of compliance pressures, many enterprises are taking advantage of SOA to simplify their portfolios and back-end architectures, according to Bruce Graham, vice president of worldwide professional services at BEA Systems.