Customer Reviews

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): A Planning and Implementation Guide for Business and Technology

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

A surprising amount of the spending for information technology in virtually all organizations is spent on supporting, updating, integrating, or otherwise maintaining legacy systems. SOA is an attempt to define a generalized group of services oriented 'objects' (for lack of a better term) that have a well defined interface and output that is oriented to provide a business orjective.

Most books on SOA (do a search at Amazon) tend to be oriented around the web and the transfer of information between computers using various web protocols, especially SOAP and RSS. In essence these are putting the details before the concepts.

This is a book on the concepts, it is what we are trying to do with SOA more than the details of how to do it. It is more concerned with good business practices rather the details of implementation. It is particularly good at refraining from recommending any particular vendor or technology.

A question you have to ask yourself is, 'Is now the time?' The authors say yes, that despite the history of attempts like CORBA, COM/DCOM, etc. there is now enough industry momentum behind current techniques that it is clearly time for you to get started. This is one of those places where it is easy to predict the future, it is harder to get it right.

Still, I think the broad concepts brought out here will last, even if the details of the implementation do not. And these concepts is what this book is about.

Before discussing the substance of "Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): A Planning and Implementation Guide for Business and Technology", its worth noting that the style of the book makes the underlying content accessible to both technologists and managers alike. The writing style is clear, compact, and full of visual aids and the entire book respects the reader's time. As for substance, the strongest feature of the book is the discussion of SOA within a business context. Architects who read the book will be better able to work with their managers to set an effective SOA strategy, augment their technology governance for SOA, and address common management fears about investing in a SOA strategy. Managers that read the book will be able to develop a practical vision of the potential benefits of SOA for their business, the likely technical and organization challenges that will be encountered, and some practical steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of SOA implementation. If your company has some web service activity but lacks an overall SOA strategy and governance model, I highly recommend the book.

Michael Sick, Enterprise Architect, Serene Software

In order to complete any jigsaw puzzle, you normally need to refer to the picture on the box.

This book provides the SOA picture with amazing common-sense clarity (thereby facilitating the puzzle).

I currently run Operational Risk and SOX Technology Development for a top-tier Investment Bank in New York - this book contains invaluable information, tips and techniques - I thoroughly recommend it.

Hearty Congratulations to the authors and Thank You for a very decent read!!

I work as a lead architect at a major training and financial institution. This book is providing us with a real technology value!

The models and the processes that are offered in the book are easy to understand and implement. Architects and developers should adopt this book as their architecture guidance bible. The architecture principals, analysis and design models, and the service lifecycle are the best that I have seen in many years.

A very creative book! I'd recommend it to all the development communities that are thinking to start SOA, or for the professionals that already started SOA initiatives.
- Nancy Lei, Architect

Much has been written about the promise of SOA and, at the same time, the difficulty in realizing that promise to date. Most of us who work in this field know by now how to address the technical concepts, architecture and services in an SOA. Where this book stands apart from so many others is that it provides both conceptual and pragmatic advice in three critical areas which need attention for SOA to mature, to achieve business buy-in, and to attain the "SOA network effect" as the authors call it. These keys are: shifting focus to identification of candidate business services; SOA governance, organization, and behavior; and a framework for an SOA business case, ROI model and scorecard.

I enthusiastically recommend this book for the authors' lucid, insightful chapters on these three subjects alone. That they are woven nicely into a more complete system of processes and supporting structures to nurture along SOA through critical mass is an added bonus.

If you are an IT executive manager, and your "C" level execs are jumping on the SOA bandwagon you need a lot more than the glossy handouts from the vendors to constructively guide the massive change that SOA typically entails.

This book will help you survive and prosper on the way - giving you both the strategy and the detailed tactics for defining and implementing SOA in a way that is relevant to your business. The authors combine their experience in both business and techical architectures to illustrate how you can identify the key services your business needs, and undertake a enterprise wide approach to implementing them. Clearly written, with lots of complimentary diagrams and graphics, the book gives you a strong starting foundation for your SOA efforts.

Be warned - this is not a light read that gives you a quick overview of SOA. It assumes that you understand the basics of SOA and are now serious about learning how your organization can strategically embrace services.

Finally a book that offers useful ideas and methodologies to address some of the most complex, yet common problems in IT. Two thumps up!

Excellent hands on service development model solutions for SOA!

It looks like a lifetime experience of the authors that produced tangible deliverables in the SOA space.

If you are an architect, developer, or a manager, you should get this book and rely on it when you're doing your work.

I'd recommend the book to all business and development communities. A must have!

This is the best book in my technical library. The authors have masterfully shared years of practical experience and technical knowledge in a way which reaches a suprisingly wide audience. The style is refreshing and lucid, while the subject matter coverage is practical and realistic.

The authors lead the reader through a process which causes one to think about, and develop, an awareness of the SOA landscape which is unique to their enterprise. They do this while arming the reader with the tools and practical advice necessary to identify the path to successful SOA implementation.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in successfully navigating the enterprise SOA labyrinth.

Donald Buckley, Founder & Chief Architect, Innovative Data Solutions

This book walks the reader through the SOA jungle in such a way that you cannot help but understand the SOA message without the hype surrounding it. I found this book very helpful in understanding the whys and hows around implementing an SOA, its value and why governance is so key to realizing that value. It is not written for the technician, its a bible for the executive that needs to move towards the SOA light.