Risks and Rewards of SOA and SaaS
Once again it is time to take a look at what is happening in the world of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Software as a Service (SaaS). Last year, after exploring the pros and cons of SOA, I concluded it was still a "Buyer Beware" proposition. This year, SaaS has been included in the update as they are often linked in most conversations. So, what are the latest developments in SOA and SaaS, and what is the outlook for 2009?As a prelude to answering these questions, a quick definition of the terms will help those new to the topic.
SOA is an approach to developing applications where business rules and functions are broken into small chunks of logic or services that can be combined to suit a specific user's or organization’s needs. Simply speaking, it is the new millennium’s version of callable library routines used in the 1980s and 1990s to accelerate and standardize application development. The difference is that SOA routines can be developed in any language and reside on any platform.
SaaS is a model of software deployment where an application is licensed for use as a service provided to customers on demand (usually via the Internet). Examples of popular SaaS applications are www.Salesforce.com and www.gotomeeting.com.
What connects SaaS to SOA is that many new SaaS offerings are developed using
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