RE: Application design & architecture

Trevor,
        Can you give an example of a "service" that would be offered by
SOA?
Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Trevor Perry
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 12:45 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Application design & architecture

Scott,

Thanks.

I agree with you about COMMON. I was involved in the SOA focus, and
after it 
was over, the message about SOA was confusing. My concern was that SOA
from 
an IBM Software Group perspective has an ulterior motive - selling 
WebSphere. This perspective is limited, and the SOA message is confused
if 
the only view you are getting is from Software Group.

To help, try this article:
http://www.zapthink.com/report.html?id=WP-0116 I 
am not sure if you have to enroll, but it costs nothing more than your
email 
address.

At COMMON, we wrote several articles for the conference daily about SOA.
I 
have reproduced them here: 
http://www.angustheitchap.com/Angus/COMMONSOA.html
And, for the RPG-minded, I wrote this article: 
http://www.angustheitchap.com/Angus/SOATLA.html

I apologize for taking the bait and answering specific questions without

addressing the big picture first. Try some of these approaches for more 
detail, although, keep clear of the vendor hype:
http://www.oracle.com/technologies/soa/index.html
"Leading companies are tackling the complexity of their application and
IT 
environments with Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), which facilitates
the 
development of modular business services that can be easily integrated
and 
reused - creating a truly flexible, adaptable IT infrastructure."
http://h20219.www2.hp.com/services/cache/278061-0-0-225-121.html?jumpid=
reg_R1002_USEN
"SOA is about improving business results.  It's not an off-the-shelf 
technology - rather it's an approach to architecting and organizing IT
and 
business functionality that enables you to achieve your business goals
while 
managing change."

And here is a great article about MS's concerns with IBM, which talks
about 
SOA. 
http://blogs.zdnet.com/service-oriented/?p=512&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zd
blog
"...IBM may be a bit over-zealous in pushing SOA, complicating its
message 
to the market, but Microsoft has been too obtuse on its own SOA
message."


And here is the big deal. SOA is simply an approach to IT that requires 
business thinking to be applied to the IT work we do. This is not so
easy to 
understand for techies, and certainly is very scary to a lot of people -
I 
reference a recent midrange-L debate. However, SOA is an approach that
will 
forge a path to the future of IT. The earth is a sphere.

Trevor


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ingvaldson, Scott"
Subject: RE: Application design & architecture


> C'mon now!  Are we really going to start debating about debating?
>
> I know that both Trevor and Joe are highly intelligent gentleman and I
> would hate to strip either one of their personalities just for the
sake
> of this or any other topic.
>
> I also know that this is a subject that is important and
misunderstood.
> It was the main focus of the most recent COMMON and I still don't feel
> that I understand it sufficiently.  Personally I have found this (and
> the previous thread) highly entertaining and somewhat enlightening.
>
> My advice (and I'll ignore it myself at times) is that if you don't
have
> anything to add to the TOPIC don't click send and PLEASE don't shoot
the
> piano player.
>
> Regards,
>
> Scott Ingvaldson
> iSeries System Administrator
> GuideOne Insurance Group