Report: SOA gaining traction in Asia

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is poised to take off in Asia due to greater awareness, according to a new regional study by Springboard Research.

In its latest study released today, the research house said the regional SOA market excluding Japan--estimated at US$810 million in 2007--is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40 percent to reach US$2.2 billion by 2010.

Australia, the region's largest SOA market, is projected to be worth US$205 million this year, the report added.

Balaka Baruah Aggarwal, a senior analyst for emerging software at Springboard Research, said in a statement: "SOA continues to gain traction in the market as more companies are either implementing SOA or are planning to do so."

The market pickup is due to an increase in awareness of the technology in the last year, which has "translated into healthier adoption levels across Asia", she explained.

The primary drivers of SOA in Asia are improved service delivery in increasingly competitive markets and improved integration at both the data and application levels, said the research house.

A survey conducted with 354 senior business and IT executives in Australia, China, India, and Singapore also revealed mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to be strong drivers of SOA deployment. Some 49 percent who had experienced M&As deployed SOA to integrate the IT systems of the merged companies.

Governance is also gaining importance, with 85 percent of respondents instituting governance in SOA deployments and 40 percent having a structure integrated from the beginning of implementation.

However, users still face some challenges, Aggarwal said. "The main challenge with SOA deployments as named by survey respondents is managing performance and scalability, and 21 percent mentioned this difficulty as their number one area of concern."

"SOA is still largely a technology initiative led by IT managers as indicated by 68 percent of our surveyed respondents. As such, SOA has mainly been a technology-driven investment instead of an investment focused on addressing clear-cut business goals," Aggarwal added. "This presents an opportunity for vendors."

IBM remains the leading SOA vendor in the region, followed by other players including Microsoft, BEA, HP, SAP, Tibco and Oracle, Springboard Research said. Survey respondents cited "proven products and solutions" as the most important reason for choosing an SOA vendor, followed by "clearly defined roadmap for deployment" and "vendor reputation".