Listen to the podcasts that accompany this site:
Part I
Part II
The key to getting the most out of SOA lies within the knowledge of how to create "truly" service-oriented solution logic. That knowledge has been documented as part of the service-orientation design paradigm. As with object-orientation, service-orientation represents a distinct approach to designing solution logic in support of a very specific set of goals.
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by Thomas Erl
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This site introduces the design principles that comprise the service-orientation design paradigm and further explores various aspects and effects of applying service-orientation in the real world. Becoming proficient with the concepts and principles of service-orientation equips you with an understanding of what is and is not considered "service-oriented" within the world of solution design. This understanding leads to a clear comprehension of how to shape solution logic specifically in support of the strategic goals and benefits associated with SOA and service-oriented computing.
Furthermore, this comprehension provides you with a great deal of clarity when surveying the current SOA marketplace. It allows you to see past the (sometimes questionable) "SOA" branding used to market products and professional services, and enables you to assess which of the available technologies, features, and resources are truly compatible with your business requirements and with how you plan to position SOA and build service-oriented solutions within your organization.
The criteria for this type of assessment no longer is whether something claims to provide SOA support, but whether its actual features will help you realize the desired level of service-orientation within your solution designs. With such a clear perspective, you may discover that some of the most suitable products and technologies for building service-oriented solutions may not be branded with "SOA" at all.
The content on this site originated from an introductory chapter I wrote for my third SOA book for the Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl. This book, entitled SOA: Principles of Service Design, essentially provides an in-depth exploration of the service-orientation design paradigm, and has a separate chapter dedicated to each of its eight design principles. The purpose of this site is to supply introductory content about service-orientation for on-line reference purposes for readers of this book series. Publishing select content on-line helps us avoid having to add redundant content within the individual series titles.
The manuscript for SOA: Principles of Service Design (including the content on this site) underwent a thorough technical review involving over 60 reviewers from different vendors, organizations, and professions across North America, Europe, and Asia. The book has been formally endorsed by members of major SOA vendors, including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, BEA, and Intel.
If you haven’t already, I would recommend you visit www.WhatIsSOA.com prior to reading through the pages on this site. Many of the terms and concepts referenced here are introduced at WhatIsSOA.com, along with descriptions of the individual strategic goals and benefits of SOA and service-oriented computing. Having an appreciation of the overall SOA vision provides you with a strategic context when learning about service-orientation. As explained in Chapter 16 of SOA: Principles of Service Design, there are concrete links that exist between applying each of the service-orientation design principles and realizing the goals and benefits of service-oriented computing.
Note that this site and WhatIsSOA.com are further supplemented with two additional sites: www.SOAMethodology.com provides a generic set of processes for service delivery, analysis, and design, and www.SOAGlossary.com is a master glossary established in support of the series books.
If you’d like to be notified of changes to these sites and other publications and events related to this book series, visit the Notifcation page.
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