I’m sitting in Jess Thompson’s SOA Technology Alternatives session (note: you can see the slides I mention below by following the preceding link). He has done a nice job of putting a number of technologies into the overall context of what it takes for an SOA initiative to succeed. All the technologies come together on slide 14, which contrasts these technologies across 10 major dimensions. The most intriguing technical trend is clearly the expanding breadth of ESB Suites and how that will bump into BPM Suite evolution with appliances being an interesting alternative view of putting a number of things ‘in a box’.
He then goes on to highlight that lack of effective governance is the number one reason that SOA initiatives are perceived as failing. This led to a discussion on a SOA Center of Excellence as well as the importance of managing your SOA Assets and Artifacts. Personally, I believe these latter points are absolutely critical. It’s all too easy to focus on the enabling technologies at the expense of focusing on the enabling management disciplines, skills, and behaviors that are required for SOA success.
To see more on these subjects, check out the following sessions: