Given the spike of interest in service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services, I thought it might be useful to highlight some of the leading solutions that may help manufacturers begin their adoption of SOAs. Caution: this is not comprehensive, nor is it intended to be. I'm a lumper, not a splitter, so this column will simplify the world of SOA. We can complicate it later.
First, I'd like to look at the enabling infrastructure for SOAs. A SOA, simply stated, is a computing architecture where application functionality is available as shared services on a network. Services are what we know as Web services (again, simplifying -- there are many other classes of services that are not, and should not be, Web services, yet they operate in a SOA.) The SOA enablement solutions on the market are many, so here are four SOA capabilities: SOA/Web services management (WSM); Enterprise service bus/messaging platform (ESB); SOA discovery (UDDI registry) and Web services security.
In my mind, these are the minimum required capabilities to achieve a SOA. I am using the word "capabilities" to describe these features of a SOA because in some cases, you cannot simply run off and purchase it. Web services security is one example. It's vitally important, relies on multiple solutions and ultimately becomes a SOA governance and policy enforcement issue.
Let's begin our exploration of SOA solutions with Web services management (WSM). WSM solutions are important early in the migration toward SOA and Web services because they play a critical role.
First, WSM solutions provide a reliable runtime environment for brokering Web services, managing their operations through the services lifecycle and assuring they perform according to agreed-upon services level agreements. WSMs provide visibility, control and enforcement for a SOA and Web services operating in your SOA. They manage the provisioning, or "brokering," of services between service providers and consumers, and are the enforcement point for SOA management policies, as well as failover routing if a service is unavailable.
This is a very important class of solutions, especially if you are new into Web services. A Web services management solution should be chosen early in your SOA adoption plans.
This segment of the SOA market is replete with solutions such as Actional (recently merged with Westbridge), Amberpoint, Adjoin (Computer Associates), Confluent (Oblix), Digital Evolution, Infravio, Service Integrity and Talking Blocks (Hewlett-Packard). While these solutions all have varying SOA features, I lump them together because of their Web services management and monitoring capabilities.
Some of these vendors offer additional SOA capabilities such as UDDI-compliant service registries, Web services brokers and even Web services security implementations. These more "integrated" solutions are compelling because there are good reasons to have a UDDI services registry bundled with the Web services management platform, especially since the registry serves as the hub that unites consumers and providers in a SOA.
The breadth of many WSM solutions allows many SOA functions to be managed in a single runtime environment. Of course, one wonders when the WSM category will be called SOA Management, which is probably a more appropriate description. You should definitely consider WSM solutions as one of the first SOA enablement solutions you'll implement for production Web services.