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Questions to ask
Whose architecture are we talking about? Will the SOA solution work well with all your companys applications and systems, or is it tied in to another platform or product? Some SOAs are heavily based on a single vendors database, development platform or application server and could be too limiting for many companies.
Rewriting required? A good SOA should tie everything together and free your company from complex and restrictive proprietary solutions. Any SOA that requires you to rewrite existing applications and services probably isnt much of an SOA. All coding should be done on the integration and connection side of the SOA, not in the core functions of your applications.
Whats the connection? The SOA solution should allow you to deliver services and applications in whatever method is most appropriate, be it HTTP, messaging queues, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) or whatever deployment protocol you need.
How do I manage? Theres no getting around the fact that an SOA is a complex proposition and one that gets more complex as it becomes more popular and successful. Does the SOA solution offer tools to track, analyze, manage, secure and scale your services?
Do standards rule? With their heavy reliance on Web services, SOAs are touched by standards in nearly every area. While complete compliance with all related standards isnt necessary (or even possible for most SOAs), you should make sure that the solution works well with all the standards that are key for your business.
Source: eWEEK Labs reporting
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