Siebel sees around the SOA corner

CRM vendor Siebel Systems announced it's getting SOA religion. At the 2005 IBM Executive SOA Summit being held this week in London, Siebel announced an SOA development package, called Siebel 7.8 Web UI Dynamic Developer Kit, which enables developers to build and deploy standardized components on top of IBM's J2EE-based WebSphere Application Server and Portal. End users will be able to access Siebel applications through standardized portals and custom Web applications. More details on the DDK will be announced in July, Siebel said.

Of course, you don't have to be a CRM vendor to see which way the market winds are blowing. SOA and Web services offer a lot of promise for more granularity in application components, open standards support, and potential for reuse across the enterprise.