Mark talks about the hype, and how to see the core value of SOA beyond the hype.

"Here's my suggestion – fill out the following SOA scorecard for each vendor:

If they talk about the technology of SOA (their implementation of it) – give them 1 point.

If they misspell SOA on any slide. Take away 1 point.

If they do not know each word making up the acronym SOA, take way 1 point for each of these words.

If they pronounce S.O.A as "So-A", take away 1 point.

Add 5 points if they can use Web-Services based Integration. A Web Service is an implementation standard for SOA. Take away 10 points if they did not know this.

Add 20 points if they talk about it in terms of functionality and not so much in terms of technology – and can show how to shift the functionality around or move it outside the application."