As Providence Health System began its move toward a service-oriented architecture (SOA), it was the painful memories of past integration projects that prompted a search for a Web services management solution.
"Living through that, we needed to get something that will help us manage this," said Michael Reagin, director of research and development.
This need for management solutions is emerging as Web services move from the project and departmental levels to enterprise-wide deployments.
"People are stepping back and looking at governance and management," said Sandra Rogers, research director for Web services and integration software at IDC. She said some of the questions they ask include: Where do you define policy? Where do you enforce policy? How do you actively manage services?