Service-oriented architectures (SOA) are based on the notion of software services, which are high-level software components that include web services. Implementation of an SOA requires tools as well as run-time infrastructure software. This is collectively referred to as a service-oriented architecture implementation framework or (SOAIF). The SOAIF envisions a comprehensive framework that provides all the technology that an enterprise might need to build and run an SOA. An SOAIF includes both design-time and run-time capabilities as well as all the software functionality an enterprise needs to build and operate an SOA, including service-oriented: tools, management, integration, modeling, security, processes.
As vendors race to provide possible solutions, three different approaches are emerging to integrating disparate, heterogeneous information and systems in the enterprise. These implementation frameworks should meet the requirements for loosely coupled, coarse grained, asynchronous Services.
Efficiency
Most packaged enterprise applications perform well in streamlining processes related to standard tasks. However, the performance rapidly deteriorates while automating and streamlining customized processes that encompass multiple enterprise applications. The process is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to implement and maintain.
The SOAIF infrastructure addresses this issue by allowing the definition of any process in any network topology, spanning multiple enterprise boundaries. This is accomplished via a peer-to-peer messaging infrastructure with distributed security mechanisms that allow efficient data exchanges for easy implementation, while enabling each enterprise to enforce its own security policies. This allows an SOAIF to increase operational efficiency across the entire value chain. SOA works on standard protocols
Application integration
Existing packaged application integration solutions are complex and require significant implementation effort, often including extensive manual coding for deployment purposes. An SOAIF provides native support for run time deployment of services across the network and dramatically reduces the overall costs of application integration and deployment by automating these time-consuming processes. It also allows extension of integration across business boundaries.
Application development and deployment
In the traditional software development process, translating requirements into working distributed systems is both time-consuming and difficult, requiring several stages of manual development and deployment. This complex, error-prone task can be effectively streamlined using a higher-level, component-based SOAIF. The SOAIF incorporates tools that let processes that are developed, using standards such as Business Process Execution Language (BPEL), to be easily translated into distributed, high-level services, which are easier to develop, manipulate, and debug. These services are easily composed into implementation-level data flows without the user or developer having to track complex middleware concepts, such as topics or queues. Further, the implementation-level services can run on any machine across the network by virtue of the built-in dynamic deployment support SOAIF provides. The combination of service-oriented tools and built-in support for distributed debugging, run-time tracing and logging, and dynamic deployment allows the SOAIF to dramatically reduce the time taken to implement and deliver working processes.
SOAIF requirements
A SOAIF is a general-purpose infrastructure platform that lets developers and business analysts create, deploy, manage, and change processes within and across the enterprise. SOAIFs have unique requirements at both the tools and infrastructure levels that are not typically provided by any single current technology or platform. These include: distributed event-enabled architecture, flexibility via service-enabled processes, enterprise standards support (fault tolerance, reliability, and scalability), security in distributed environment, visual process composition and monitoring, rapid process changes.
By addressing these requirements, an SOAIF lets users quickly respond to changes and integrate operations efficiently, regardless of platform, language, database, or application.