Attendees gathered at the fifth annual Microsoft SOA & Business Process Conference today, where the company shared its vision and road map to simplify the effort required to design, build, deploy and manage composite applications within and across organizations. Microsoft Corp. announced "Oslo," the code name for the set of technical investments that help customers realize this vision.

This multiyear, multiproduct effort utilizes the company's top engineering talent to build on the model-driven and service-enabled principles of Microsoft Dynamic IT (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/jun07/06-04TechED07PR.mspx) and extend the benefits of service-oriented architecture (SOA) beyond the firewall. The "Oslo" technology innovations further Microsoft software-plus-services efforts by providing extensions to the application platform to help developers bridge between on-premise and off-premise projects. As part of a technical road map, Microsoft made available new tools and guidance to help organizations take advantage of "real-world SOA" today, including new SOA resources from Microsoft and a host of industry partners.