SOA has two faces. One is the IT-centric, technical aspects — such as service-level management, performance monitoring, and security. The other face of SOA is all about the business, which includes application integration and business-level monitoring. This distinction has been identified by Forrester Research’s Randy Heffner who separated out the two classes of leading SOA tool vendors that address these two levels of SOA management:
Pure SOA management and security:
• Infravio
• Itellix
• SOA Software
• HP
• CA
Business-level SOA management:
• Actional (Sonic Software)
• AmberPoint
• IBM
• Oracle
• TIBCO
• webMethods
Forrester used specific criteria to assemble this list, of course. But notably absent are BEA Systems and Microsoft, which suggests that some vendors may play well in the SOA development cycle, but may not yet have optimized environments for the more operational aspects of SOA. Also missing from the list are pure-play SOA operational management vendors such as Systinet, PolarLake, and Cape Clear. (In the case of the latter two, Forrester also publishes separate ESB ratings.)
In this latest report, Heffner observes that "traditional enterprise IT management infrastructure products provide insight into the operation of the application server platforms (Java Enterprise Edition, .NET, CICS, IMS, etc.) and other infrastructure (databases, integration servers, operating systems, etc.) where the business logic implementations of your services run, but they are limited in their ability to provide insight into the operations at the service-interface level. SOA management solutions provide this new layer of management, and some combine management at both the service interface level and the infrastructure level."
Joe McKendrick is an author, consultant and speaker specializing in trends and developments shaping the technology industry.
Disclosure
Joe McKendrick
Joe McKendrick is an independent consultant, editor and speaker.
Joe has performed project work (white papers, articles, blogs, research and presentations) for the following companies in the IT marketspace:
- CBS Interactive/CNET/ZDNet (this blog)
- ebizQ
- Evans Data
- Gartner
- IBM
- Informatica
- IDC
- Microsoft
- Systinet/HP
- Teradata
- Unisphere Reseach, a division of Information Today, Inc.
- WebLayers
Joe has also performed research work for the following sponsoring organizations in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.
- IBM
- Luminex
- Noetix
- Oracle Corp.
- Teradata
- Informatica
- International Oracle Users Group
- Oracle Applications Users Group
- Professional Association for SQL Server
- International DB2 Users Group
- International Sybase Users Group
- SHARE (IBM large systems users group)
Biography
Joe McKendrick
Joe McKendrick is an author and independent analyst who tracks the impact of information technology on management and markets. Joe is co-author, along with 16 leading industry leaders and thinkers, of the SOA Manifesto, which outlines the values and guiding principles of service orientation. He also speaks frequently on Enterprise 2.0 and SOA topics at industry events and Webcasts. As an independent analyst, he has also authored numerous research reports in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc. for user groups such as SHARE, Oracle Applications Users Group, and International DB2 Users Group. Joe is also an active SOA contributor for ebizQ/TechTarget. In a previous life, Joe served as director of the Administrative Management Society (AMS), an international professional association dedicated to advancing knowledge within the IT and business management fields. He is a graduate of Temple University.
