I am frequently asked certain questions about service-oriented architecture (SOA). Within the System i world, SOA is at an early adoption stage; companies are still exploring this paradigm. I hope this article will provide answers as to why you might consider SOA in your System i.

Is SOA Hype or Reality?

It is a little of both. The current wave of SOA is reminiscent of 1994, when ERP three-tiered architecture was the frenzy. Vendors today are putting some sort of SOA in their taglines, but I think it's mostly for press. That's where the hype comes in. Many analysts' projections try to define what tool is necessary for SOA today. The last three years have proven that they missed who will have SOA at this point. One of the biggest misconceptions is that it is easy to do.

The reality part of SOA is that it encompasses a lot of good architectural practices, such as layering, loose coupling, and separations of concerns. SOA really is an architectural style that can be applied to any organization. Customers cannot just buy SOA; it is more a combination of buy and build. Whether you are going to buy a product or use an open-source product, you have to build the architecture. If you don't have the architecture in place, there is no product out of the box that will give you SOA today.