The benefits of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) have been well documented, but the challenges associated with an enterprise wide SOA deployment have not. While the distributed nature of a SOA encourages reuse and provides a high level of agility for the business, it can also give rise to real challenges in the delivery of SOA-based applications.

XML is the core technology enabler of SOA-based applications. Its verbose nature, inherent lack of security, and the increase in connections between applications and services required result in a number of challenges that are well-understood, and that have proven solutions.

The challenge in delivering SOA-based applications lies in identifying where potential problems will arise and addressing them as early in the deployment cycle as possible. Application delivery controllers are well suited to addressing both the well-understood and unanticipated issues associated with delivering SOA-based applications.