From Silos to Pipes  - Shared Services beyond the Enterprise

SOA is breaking down silos within the Enterprise and eases integration.  As we move beyond the enterprise we will share services in B2B exchanges.   My concern is that SOA Platforms are vendors specific and services that they expose are not likely to be interoperable between platforms.  We have SOA Platform Vendors and we have SOA Software Vendors and combinations thereof.  Some platform vendors will carry services from software vendors however if your expecting that services from one software vendor are interoperable with another software vendor, and that you can compose applications based on services from any vendor - you will be in for a surprise.  For example it is not likely SAP services will be able to integrate with Oracle services (different interfaces, different granularity, etc.)


Vision of SOA vs Reality of SOA

While the true vision of SOA is the ability to combine services located anywhere, running on any platform; the reality is that SOA Platform Vendors will protect their revenues and expose services that are not likely going to be interoperable.  As we move beyond the Enterprise the evolution of SOA will cause us to build pipes rather than silos.   SOA Software Vendors will be careful to pick partners and allow selected 3rd Party shared services to be integrated into the mix of compose-able applications on their platforms.    


Moving Specific Development Platforms to SOA Platforms

While SOA has allowed us to abstract away from specific software development platforms ie. .Net/Java (and associated hardware) we have now moved the problem to SOA Platforms.  You will now pick a platform of choice and build services, expose service, and compose services within that environment.  Initially this will primarily be for Enterprise applications and overtime these platforms will be used to build B2B applications.  To share services and ensure interoperability you partners will have to have the same platform as you do or you will likely need some kind of gateway to broker composed services between environments or allow for integration with other SOA Platforms.


Caveat Emptor

Service interoperability is not likely a concern as you build Enterprise SOA applications however as you move to build B2B applications you may be building "pipes" that will force you and your partners to go down a SOA Platform path that you presently not expecting.  You need to ask you SOA Platform vendor whether you will be locked in to using their platforms if you plan to move beyond the enterprise.

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Gary E. Smith
SOA Enterprise Architect