Consultant: SOA not good enough yet for government work

The government -- particularly at the federal level -- is seen as a leading force in the move to SOA. Government agencies are constantly under pressure to deliver more with less and are saddled with massive warehouses full of legacy systems. Thus, SOA seems like a natural route to take.

In January, we reported how one analyst firm recommends that technology contractors embed SOA into their federal government bids. The government wants lots of standardization, which SOA delivers.

However, some observers question whether SOA is ripe enough for the sensitive nature of some government work. Warren Suss, for one, questions how far SOA can go in government at this time. In a new commentary in Government Computer News, he cites a recent chat with Gen. Charles Croom, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA):

"Croom, for one, asks vendors who come knocking at his door a tough question: 'Where are you applying SOA to your own internal processes?' He says he’s usually met with a blank stare."

Suss notes that Croom is very hot on the idea of applying SOA methodologies to his operations, though DISA is still in the embryonic stages of such efforts. Still, he observes, "limited industry experience in large-scale SOA deployment limits the set of mature SOA systems and processes available to the government." (You hear that, vendors? Stop with the blank stares...)

Government SOA initiatives may also be hamstrung by security, but not for the reasons one might think.

Agencies such as DISA are purchasing Web-based commercial applications, including search engines and mapping programs, but installing them on protected government networks rather than as commercial Web services as they were designed to be. "This strategy gets users’ hands on the tools and services, but it is doubling the work and cost because the government has to set up a mirror image of industry’s computing environment, including operations and maintenance services and help desks, inside protected government computing and network enclaves."