tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-438942112364524044.post7644972298092415243..comments2024-03-29T02:15:50.063-07:00Comments on Biology of Distributed Information Systems: SOA is much too young to be deadYves Caseauhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04812034190333969728noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-438942112364524044.post-21911455840818968292009-03-09T19:31:00.000-07:002009-03-09T19:31:00.000-07:00Thank you for the feedback. I agree with your stat...Thank you for the feedback. I agree with your statements about the need of strategic/future thinking and active involvement of the “Enterprise Architecture Group”. They are critical for the success of SOA regardless of the approach “top-down” or “bottom-up”. <BR/>My message was not clear, since it tried to communicate two things at the same time: <BR/>1. There are technological limitations for implementing successful SOA strategy. The prevailing SOA technologies SOAP and REST force companies to use Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) as the only tool for service implementation. The service concept in this context is synonymous with RPC. The adoption of a new technology that enables applications to share objects, operations and presentation components is a major advancement and creates new opportunities. First it is better aligned with the architecture of individual applications. Second, it enables sharing at a higher level that is more intuitive and easier to communicate to the business. The sharing of presentation functionality will provide the biggest cost saving opportunities for the companies.<BR/><BR/>2. The “bottom-up” approach coupled with the new application integration technology enables light-weight SOA implementations that are more acceptable for the business. The “top-down approach” has three phases: 1) Service Definition, 2) Service Architecture and 3) Service Integration until we start making ROI. When applying the “bottom-up” approach we begin identifying enterprise services (data, operations, presentation components) within the context of every new application. Those services may be implemented locally and exposed to other applications when reuse opportunities are identified. Shared resources (services) may be moved to specialized repository later. One of the key features of the new application integration technology is the ability to change resource implementations from local to remote and vice versa without affecting the application functionality. The approach enables companies to create only the resources they need. It does not have upfront cost and generate ROI as reuse opportunities are realized.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01075310967547710954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-438942112364524044.post-91221460910897653542009-03-07T00:11:00.000-08:002009-03-07T00:11:00.000-08:00Thanks Dimitre for a very interesting comment. I h...Thanks Dimitre for a very interesting comment. I have started to browse through your site ... it will take a litle time before I can really give you a feedback:)<BR/>Very generally speaking, I both agree and dissent with what you are saying:<BR/>(1) You are totally right with your proposal to replace the abstract term "service" with more pratical/precise concepts. A taxonomy such as the one you propose (data/operation - logic / presentation) makes perfect sense.<BR/>(2) on the other hand, part of what I am saying "lies on a different "abstraction space", that is, at the business level. So "bottom-up" cannot do 100% of the job, since a litle "strategic/future" thinking is required.<BR/>Those two don't really oppose with one another, but I don't think that a company can get 100% of the "SOA benefits" without making a managerial commitment to "Enterprise Architecture" (which is more than developpers using a proper methodology).<BR/>Cheers,<BR/>- YvesYves Caseauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04812034190333969728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-438942112364524044.post-79992519315081151652009-02-26T09:16:00.000-08:002009-02-26T09:16:00.000-08:00Yves, thanks for the great article and suggested r...Yves, thanks for the great article and suggested readings. I agree with your view of SOA and believe that it has a bright future. <BR/>In my opinion one of the things that are holding back the wide adoption of SOA is the abstract concept of service. It conveys really vague meaning that you are asking someone to do something for you. But, what is that? Most of the people interpret the service as Remote Procedure Call (RPC) or sending a message.<BR/>I believe that we are going to make a breakthrough in SOA adoption if replace the term service with concrete service types that developers and business people can relate to. For example we build applications:<BR/>- data;<BR/>- operations – programming logic;<BR/>- presentation component;<BR/>We can define standard interfaces for data service, operation service and presentation component service.<BR/><BR/>It is much easier to approach the business saying:<BR/>- Which data do you want to standardize? Customer, Order, etc. We do not need to discuss specific methods (like how to search for customers). It is handled by data service interface. At some point we need to define the access control to data for different user roles.<BR/>- Which business operations do you to standardize? Check customer credit, address validation, etc. <BR/>- Which presentation functionality do you want to standardize? Those are coarse-grain presentation components that implement certain workflow like: Make payment, Select cell phone plan, etc. <BR/><BR/>Conceptually every enterprise application can be a client or server of such services, but it also may make sense to deploy the services in specialized enterprise repositories.<BR/><BR/>The benefits are really obvious when coupled with an application-level architecture that is based on the same service types. For example it gives developers the flexibility to get a data object from locally implemented data service (using access to DB), another application or Enterprise Data Repository.<BR/><BR/>The idea is described in more details in my blog – http://shipka.wordpress.com/articles/bottom-up-approach-to-soa/<BR/>Implementations of this approach to SOA are available at: http://shipka.com.<BR/><BR/>What are your thoughts on this?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01075310967547710954noreply@blogger.com