SOA Technology Adoption Seen Reaching 90 Percent in 2006

Aberdeen survey shows enterprises are favoring service-oriented architecture suites and enterprise service bus technology to ease application integration woes

Aberdeen survey shows enterprises are favoring service-oriented architecture suites and enterprise service bus technology to ease application integration woes

Boston — July 17, 2006 — Nine of every 10 companies are adopting or have adopted service-oriented architectures and will exit 2006 with SOA planning, design, and programming experience as they seek to ease their application integration woes, according to a new AberdeenGroup benchmark report.

The report, "Enterprise Service Bus and SOA Middleware," based on an Aberdeen benchmark survey of more than 120 information technology (IT) and business professionals, indicates a growing and widespread acceptance of SOA technology, especially among large enterprises with at least $1 billion in annual revenue.

According to the Wikipedia, "SOA can ... be regarded as a style of information systems architecture that enables the creation of applications that are built by combining loosely coupled and interoperable 'services,'" or functionality contained within one application but used by another solution.

Enterprises are looking to SOAs to help them address the challenges presented by existing application integration technologies that are too complex, resource-consuming and slow-to-implement to keep up with business process changes, according to Aberdeen. SOA technology from both application providers and development/middleware companies are becoming the preferred technology base for solving the application integration problem, the analyst firm writes.

But migrating to an SOA doesn't come without a price, the Aberdeen survey found.

"Redesigning business processes, high IT integration costs and customization challenges are eating up 40 percent of the IT budget in integration expenditures," said Peter S. Kastner, vice president and research director for enterprise integration at Aberdeen and author of the report. "SOA is broadly seen as a real technology step forward, with the largest companies, who have the biggest integration problems, leading the way."

Enterprises are taking three distinct approaches to SOA adoption:

  • SOA "Lite": This approach is based on open-source programs and industry standards and is best suited for small companies, lightweight integration and simple Web services such as employee self-service.


  • Enterprise SOA: This is a suite of SOA middleware for mission-critical and complex installations, best suited for midsize to large companies.


  • SOA ERP: This approach offers midsize and some large companies an entry to SOA via extensions to enterprise resource planning (ERP) application software.
The Aberdeen report examines the state of SOA middleware adoption in mid-2006, with an emphasis on enterprise services buses (ESBs), middleware software that connects, orchestrates and manages business processes across an SOA. Enterprise SOA practitioners prefer full-function suites that include ESBs, according to Aberdeen.

The report is available on the Aberdeen Web site at www.aberdeen.com/link/source.asp?cid=3170&pid=PRPK071306.


Additional Articles of Interest

— For a quick-read update on supply chain enablement projects and solutions for the busy executive, read the "Supply Chain Executive Briefing" in the April/May 2006 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

— Best practices in returns management can help you overcome the "black hole" of the returns process. Read more in "More Than an Afterthought: Moving Aftermarket Services Forward through Intelligent Returns Management," an SDCExec.com exclusive.


Latest