The experience from his first service-oriented architecture (SOA) implementation in 2002 still informs the thinking of John Falka, chief architect for SOA governance in IBM's internal software group.

That first SOA project now provides best practices for other IBM customers, he explained while presenting an early adopter case study during a recent Webcast titled The Keys to Business-Critical SOA.

"I'm pretty familiar with this case study and the customer involved," Falka deadpanned as he began explain how SOA was first implemented at IBM

The case study has value because the way IBM started out with SOA five years ago is not unlike how a company would begin by dipping its toe into service-orientation today. Falka and his colleagues didn't start out doing big SOA, they began with little SOA, as most consultants and analysts currently recommend for neophytes.