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SOA: Substance or Hype?

IT professionals today are now much more on their guard against IT industry hype and spin than they have ever been, and IT vendors have become very wary of their offerings and initiatives acquiring the "marketing hype" label. Yet few major vendors have been able to resist the lure of positioning around service-oriented architecture (SOA) as the "next big thing" in software development and integration. So is there any substance here or is it all just hype to stimulate another wave of technology spending? Quocirca Ltd. considered the views gathered during an independent study involving more 1,350 IT professionals to help answer this question.

Highlights

  • One-third of medium and large organizations have now taken a close look at SOA. 476 (35 percent) of the 1,356 IT professionals interviewed as part of a worldwide research study conducted in the first quarter of 2005 said they had looked at SOA "in-depth." A further 31 percent indicated knowledge, but at a high level only. Knowledge and awareness of SOA amongst the IT professional community is thus now very significant.
  • Those that have looked at SOA in-depth are unanimous in acknowledging significant benefits. Just 4 (less than 1 percent) of the 476 "informed" respondents said SOA offered no significant benefit in any area. Over 99 percent acknowledged significant benefits in areas such as streamlining the development and deployment process, streamlining the maintenance process, reducing integration overhead and enabling IT to be more responsive to the business. Benefits concerned with optimizing use of resources at execution time were also noted, particularly in a grid computing environment where SOA can enable finer control. Respondents varied in where they put the emphasis, but about two thirds of them acknowledged benefits in each of these individual areas.
  • Packaged application vendors are on the right track with their move towards SOA and componentization. Over 70 percent of informed respondents saw the implementation of SOA by key packaged application vendors as being of significant benefit from an interfacing and integration perspective. As integration work represents a large portion of the initial and ongoing cost of implementing and running ERP and CRM systems, the potential benefit here is substantial.
  • Web services are viewed as a key enabler of B2B interactions. Over 85 percent of informed respondents said there was a role for Web services in facilitating direct connections between their systems and those of their partners, customers and/or suppliers. With most organizations relying on telephone and e-mail as the primary B2B transaction mechanisms, the application of Web services in this area could be considered a key enabler.
  • SOA and Web services may help to clear the path to more hosted services. Almost 80 percent of informed respondents said the Web services standards and SOA could potentially make integration between in-house systems and hosted applications easier to manage. This could overcome one of the common problems associated with selective outsourcing in particular, which in turn could broaden the market for the latest generation of application service providers.
  • SOA adoption is only just getting off the ground, but the indicators are positive. Less than one-fifth of total respondents said they were currently active with SOA, but another quarter indicated plans to adopt SOA over the coming year. Even allowing for some optimism in responses, indications are that SOA activity is set to grow steadily. Both adoption and intentions are highest in North America, closely followed by Europe, with the Asia Pacific region trailing.

The results of the research presented herein suggest the high levels of commitment to SOA and Web services that we see within the vendor community are mirrored by the receptiveness and enthusiasm of end-user organizations. This, along with substantial ongoing investment in both R&D and promotion by IT vendors, means that proliferation of the SOA approach is almost inevitable. The bottom line is that SOA appears to be made up of much more substance than hype.

Note: The information presented in this report was derived from 1,356 interviews with senior IT influencers and decision-makers as part of the Oracle Grid Index research program reported in April 2005 (the main report is available from http://www.quocirca.com/reports_soa.htm). 300 of the interviews were conducted in North America, 600 in Europe and the remainder (456) in Asia Pacific. Respondents were from a mixture of large multinationals and medium to large national organizations across a broad cross-section of industry sectors. For more information, please visit www.quocirca.com.


Clive Longbottom is head of research for Quocirca Ltd, a leader in business and IT analysis in Europe. Longbottom is an internationally recognized analyst who brings together large organizational experience with extensive IT knowledge to cut through current flavors of the month, ensuring that clients concentrate on the technology required to support business needs. You can reach him at clive.longbottom@quocirca.com.

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