You don't go SOA to be more secure; you go SOA for the sake of efficiency and integration, standardization and code reuse. The returns are tantalizing, but like any other development scenario where a rush-to-market supersedes security, the results could be disastrous, experts say.

"There are definitely some positives, but there are some gotchas too," said Diana Kelley, vice president and service director with Burton Group.

 SOA is a relatively new buzzword describing an old concept. XML-based Web services breathed new life into this type of architecture earlier this decade, and early adopters--financial services in particular--have gravitated to this design principle.