Some recent debate on SOA has come across the blogosphere with 2 theories:
1) SOA is a technical solution (not a business one) and the term has been hijacked by marketing hype.
2) SOA is nothing different than what has been done with the web from the beginning.
Some links:
blogs.zdnet.com/service-oriented/
redmonk.com/
Each of these perspectives have their underlying truths. I think some folks may be thinking too hard here. The fundamental problem for IT always starts with a business problem. (or always should start with one.) So in that sense I disagree with the first theory. If my mousetrap is working fine, why would I want to risk anything by changing it? Even if the new spiffy SOA architecture will save the world? A business problem at hand is the beginning. When the business folks say "we have a problem that needs fixing" or "we have an idea for a new service for our customers" then we get to IT. The technologists can architect the best way to solve the business problem using technology.
Now perhaps SOA has suffered from hype and been over marketed as a solution for everything. This part of the first theory I agree with. But it doesn't negate the value underneath it. It simply reflects the fact that SOA is a very loosely defined term. It can mean many things in many contexts. In the end we start with business problems, and apply architecture to best solve them. If we do this in a loosely coupled manner, we get SOA. Sound familiar?
Technology is the means to a business ends and not an end in itself. Once a problem exists, then there is an opportunity perhaps not only to solve an immediate problem, but to plan for the future. Service orientation can occur during these architecting spaces in the development cycle.
Regarding the second theory: yes, the web itself is a great service oriented solution. eBay, Amazon, etc all provide services in a decentralized and decoupled way. SOA brings this same thinking inside an enterprise. I recently spent some time working on some data integration issues for a large company that had many acquisitions. With all the growth and subsidiaries, I don't know how they would even try to offer stovepipe solutions. Decoupled and service oriented is the only way possible to get anything done in the short term. They may or may not call it SOA, but it fits the bill in my book.
1:37:03 PM 
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