At your service [service-oriented architecture]

Abstract

For pt.2 see ibid., 44-7 (2005). SOA is fast way for organisations to unlock code buried in legacy systems. Although SOA is not tied to Web services, HTTP-based protocols such as the simple object access protocol (SOAP) have made SOA something that users can adopt with relative ease. In its purest form, SOA just means a way of building applications and systems out of a loose coupling of interacting software agents. For many, that coupling is through Web services and the front-ends to the first couple of generations of SOA are often simple, thin Web clients. In this article the author looks at how SOA might impact enterprise strategy.