SOA is still plug and pray

SOA in a box? Perhaps we're being sold too much box for something that requires a lot of thinking outside the box.
A new report in ComputerWorld sheds some much-needed light on the over-promising and over-hyping that surrounds SOA. At a recent conference in Sydney, IAG's manager of strategy and architecture PaulLund was quoted as warning companies to "be vary of vendor promises regarding software and itscapability".

He added that the key is to "make sure the software does what it says andthere is a supply of skilled and experienced resources."Focus on demonstrated capabilities and standards." The article quotes Lund as recommending avoiding "heavy engineering" as much as possible and to "think big but start small".

Norm Lawler, I-Net project manager for Queensland Health, added that SOA is not "plug and play,despite what vendors say". Vendors promoting "configuration, notcoding" is misleading, he said.