Let's talk ....about SOA

SOA is a hot topic, so why isn't it a hot business. Everyone I talk with who is involved with companies, both start-ups and big guys, selling some kind of SOA tool set, or platform, or whatever, complains that they aren't selling much yet, and aren't really sure why. There are lots of theories about missing pieces, long planning cycles, and difficulty getting the buisness guys to understand the need to invest in it. Gartner puts SOA right in the middle of the "trough of disillusionment". That is probably right. SOA will be very good for enterprise, and extra-exterprise productivity and agility when it does move from hot topic to real adoption. It will allow appicaitons to be more flexible and keep costs of improving business applications down, helping to alleviate two really big drags on business productivity improvements.

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