Service-oriented architecture (SOA) offers greater agility, flexibility and productivity, which is why businesses are eagerly adopting and implementing SOAs as the framework for their IT infrastructures. However, as with any technology adoption, there are countless details to be considered to ensure that the SOA delivers upon its promises. One of the most difficult challenges is incorporating existing systems into the SOA environment without incurring the time and cost of changing these legacy systems to conform to new standards. Data services may hold the answer to moving legacy systems forward into the SOA. Data services are an often overlooked, but essential component for delivering data--the lifeblood of any organization that is typically found in legacy systems.
A fully functional SOA is comprised of four main components, and no one vendor currently provides the best-of-breed technology for each of these components.
