Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies^®, 2nd Edition

Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies^®, 2nd Edition

by Judith Hurwitz, Robin Bloor, Marcia Kaufman, and Fern Halper

Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies^®, 2nd Edition

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About the Authors

Judith Hurwitz is a technology strategist and thought leader. She is the president of Hurwitz & Associates, a business technology strategy firm that helps companies gain business benefit from their technology investments. In 1992, she founded the Hurwitz Group, a technology research group. She has worked in various corporations, such as John Hancock, Apollo Computer, and Patricia Seybold’s Group. She has written numerous articles and white papers, and publishes a regular blog. Judith holds a BS and MS degrees from Boston University.

Judith provides strategic guidance to both vendors and customers of distributed technologies. Judith is a frequent keynote speaker at industry events. She was named a distinguished alumnus Boston University’s College of Arts & Sciences in 2005. She is also a recipient of the 2005 Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council award.

Robin Bloor, a Partner with Hurwitz & Associates, has been an IT consultant and technology analyst for almost 20 years. He lived and worked in the UK until 2002, founding the IT analysis company, Bloor Research, which published comparative technology reports that covered everything from computer hardware architectures to ecommerce. Prior to co-authoring this book, he was already a published author, having written the UK business best seller, The Electronic B@zaar: From the Silk Road to the E-Road (published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing), which analyzed and explained the field of ecommerce.

In 2002, Robin moved to the US and now resides in Austin, Texas. In 2005, he merged his US analyst company with Hurwitz and Associates and in 2006, he began to take an interest in the expanding area of SOA. Robin has become an influential and respected commentator on many corporate IT issues and is in great demand as a presenter at conferences, user groups, and seminars.

Marcia Kaufman, a founding Partner and chief operating officer of Hurwitz & Associates, has 20 years of experience in business strategy, industry research, service oriented architectures, software quality, information services, and analytics. In addition to publishing a regular technology blog, Marcia has written extensively on SOA, information management, and the business value of information technology. Marcia has worked on financial services industry modeling and forecasting in various research environments including Data Resources Inc. (DRI). She holds an AB from Connecticut College in mathematics and economics and an MBA from Boston University.

Dr. Fern Halper, a Partner at Hurwitz & Associates, has over 20 years of experience in data analysis, business analysis, and strategy development. Fern has published numerous articles on data mining and information technology. She has done extensive research, writing, and speaking on the topic of text analytics. She publishes a regular technology blog. Fern has held key positions at AT&T and Lucent Technologies. Fern spent eight years at Bell Laboratories leading the development of innovative approaches and systems to analyze marketing and operational data. She has also taught at both Colgate University and Bentley College. Fern received her BA from Colgate University and her PhD from Texas A&M University.

Dedication

Judith dedicates her part of the book to her family — her husband, Warren; her children, Sara and David; and her mother, Elaine. She also dedicates this book in memory of her father, David.

Robin dedicates his part of the book to Judy, for her encouragement, support, and advice.

Marcia dedicates her part of the book to her husband, Matthew; her daughters, Sara and Emily; and her parents, Larry and Gloria.

Fern dedicates her part of the book to her husband, Clay; and her daughters, Katie and Lindsay. She also dedicates this book in memory of her parents, Stanley and Phyllis.

Author’s Acknowledgments

We heartily thank our friends at Wiley, most especially Jean Nelson and Katie Feltman. Thank you to our development editor, Linda Morris. Our colleague at Hurwitz & Associates, Carol Caliendo, deserves our heartfelt thanks.

We learned a tremendous amount from all our interactions with IT executives who willingly and graciously shared their experience and knowledge about their SOA journey. We would like to acknowledge the following individuals:

AstraZeneca’s Mark Stocksdale; Austin Energy’s Andres Carvallo; Avnet’s Sean Valcamp; Bell Aliant’s Tony Lodge; The Carphone Warehouse’s Pawel Maszcyk and David Byrne; Cadtel Systems’ Bryan Rank; Cigna’s Brian Mitchell, Chad Roberts, and Tim Fitzgerald; Cisco’s Chris Wiborg, Paul Liesenberg, Guillermo Diaz Jr., Craig Hinkley, and David M. Gagliano; Delaware Electric’s Gary Cripps; U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency’s Steve Willet and Sean Kelly; Gaylord Entertainment’s Bill Glasgow; Hampshire County Council’s Jos Creese and former consultant Andy Holdup; Intercontinental Hotel Group’s Eric Norman and Bill Peer; Independence Blue Cross’s Thomas Cangelosi; Innoveo Solutions’ Nick Stefania and Didier Beck; Jack Henry & Associates’ Kevin Sligar and Debbie Wood; Partners HealthCare Systems’ Steve Flammini and Mary Finlay; RLP Technologies’ Norman Marks and Joe LaFeir; Redlasso’s Mark Thompson and Liquid Hub’s Tim Regovich; U.S. Department of Defense’s David Howard and CommIT Enterprises’ Cameron Hunt; Spotlight Pty Ltd’s Anne McDiarmid and KAZ-Group’s Victoria Redwood; State Street’s Jason Weisser, Debra Ciccerone, and David Saul; Telenor’s Magnus Bakken and Juan Carlos Lopez Calvet; The Hartford’s Ben Moreland; Thomson Reuters’ Vladimir Mitevski; and Virgin Entertainment Group’s Robert Fort.

Thank you to our friends representing many of the vendors, systems integrators, and industry associations in the SOA community:

IBM’s Debbie Cassie, Andy Warzecha, Paulson Lan, Janell Straach, Wayne Perry, Beverly Lowry, Virginia Agee, Valerie Jackson, Andrew Manby, Nicole Fortenberry, Mark-Thomas Schmidt, Greg Fleurry, Debbie Langenfeld, Patty Rowell, Sandy Berman, Fil Bowen, Doug Brown, Ambuj Goyal, Sandy Carter, John Simonds, Glenn Hintze, Sarita Torres, Sara Peck, Steve Mills, Robert LeBlanc, Michael Curry, Martha Leversuch; HP’s Tim Hall, David Gee, David Butler, Jean Kondo, Tom Hogan, Ann Livermore, Tiffany Tuel, and Ruth Busbee; Liquid Hub’s Tom Cozzolino; Progress Software’s Trip Kucera; Red Hat’s Pierre Frick and Sean White; Software AG’s Franco Castaldini; The SOA Consortium’s Richard Soley and Brenda Michelson; Thetus’ Philip Pridmore-Brown; Novell’s Ian Bruce; CA’s Al Nugent; Clarabridge’s Vanessa Stirling; LSH Communications’ Kathy Tebben; Pan Communications’ Erica Burns; and Waggener Edstrom Worldwide’s Lyn Oliver.

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Introduction

Welcome to Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies, 2nd Edition. We are very excited that service oriented architecture (SOA) is starting to mature and move into the mainstream. Increasingly, we see SOA becoming not just a technology platform but a business platform. SOA is game changing, and SOA successes make it clear that SOA is here to stay. We hope this book is enough to ground you in SOA basics and to whet your appetite for the SOA adventure. We are also pleased that we can share more than 20 examples of how companies across nine vertical markets have used SOA as a way to improve business agility.

Service oriented architecture is more than a bunch of new software products strung together to allow technology companies to have something else to sell. SOA represents a dramatic change in the relationship between business and IT. SOA makes technology a true business enabler and empowers business and technology leaders alike.

The software industry has been on a journey toward a service oriented approach to software for more than 20 years. Smart people have known for a long time that if software can be created in such a way that it can be reused, life will be a lot better. If software can be designed to reflect how business operates, business and technology can align themselves for success. Finding good ways to reuse the years of investment in software means money spent wisely. These issues are at the heart of SOA and are among the reasons we think this book is so important.

SOA isn’t a quick fix: It’s a journey — and a very rewarding adventure. It’s an approach built on industry standards, with large doses of forethought and planning. It is indeed a journey. We hope this book inspires you and helps you get started.

About This Book

Service oriented architecture is a big new area and frequires that a lot of people familiarize themselves with it in a relatively short period of time. That’s why we wrote this book. Some people may want to get deeper into the technological details, while others may care only about the business implications.

We recommend that you read the chapters in Part II, regardless of how deeply or shallowly you want to wander into the SOA pool. The information therein will help ground you in basic SOA concepts and prepare you for intelligent conversations about the subject. We also recommend that everyone read the case studies in Part V, because seeing how real people put SOA to work is probably the best way to get a handle on what’s in it for you.

You can certainly read this book from cover to cover (if you’re that kind of person), but in true For Dummies style, chapters are self contained, so you can go straight to the topics that interest you most. Wherever you start, we wish you well.

Foolish Assumptions

Try as we might to be all things to all people, when it came to writing this book, we had to pick who we thought would be most interested in Service Oriented Architectures For Dummies, 2nd Edition. Here’s who we think you are:

You’re smart. You’re no dummy, yet the topic of service oriented architecture gives you an uneasy feeling. You can’t quite get your head around it, and if pressed for a definition, you might try to change the subject.

You’re a businessperson who wants little or nothing to do with technology, but you live in the 21st century and find that you can’t escape it. Everybody around is saying “SOA this” and “SOA that,” so you think you better find out what they’re talking about.

Alternatively, you’re an IT person who knows a heck of a lot about technology, but this SOA stuff is new, and everybody says it’s something different. Once and for all, you want the whole picture.

Whoever you are, welcome. We’re here to help.

How This Book Is Organized

We divide our book into six parts for easy consumption of SOA topics. Feel free to skip about.

Part I: Getting Started with SOA

In this part, we introduce you to the basic concepts of SOA, and then give you some pointers on how to get started. This part also includes a test you can use to help determine if you’re ready for SOA.

Part II: Introducing SOA Basics

In this part, we introduce you to the major concepts and components so that you can hold your own in any meaningful conversation about SOA.

Part III: Nitty-Gritty SOA

Some folks are more technically oriented than others. In this part, we dive deeper into the actual SOA architecture components. The material in these chapters is groundbreaking. We’ve done the research and put into print concepts that the software industry has been struggling to articulate for the past few years. At this point, you won’t find this material anywhere else in print.

Part IV: SOA Sustenance

Creating a SOA is one thing. Keeping it up and running, growing, adapting, and supporting business requires a lot more. This part delves into areas critical to SOA’s longevity.

Part V: Real Life with SOA

SOA is real. Real businesses are using it today to great advantage. This part shares stories that come to us from 24 companies actively helping organizations put SOA into practice. These companies represent nine different vertical markets. We interviewed people from each of the projects we describe. You can take their word for it. SOA rules!

Part VI: The Part of Tens

If you’re new to the For Dummies treasure trove, you’re no doubt unfamiliar with The Part of Tens. In this part, Wiley editors torture For Dummies authors into creating useful bits of information easily accessible in lists containing ten (more or less) elucidating elements. We started these chapters kicking and screaming but are ultimately very glad they’re here. We think you’ll be, too.

After The Part of Tens chapters, we provide a glossary. We try diligently to define terms as we go along, but we think having a handy-dandy reference is very useful.

Icons Used in This Book

Like all For Dummies books, this book makes use of icons in the margin. These icons help draw attention to paragraphs that we think you need to pay attention to, or in some cases, paragraphs that you can skip over.

We use this icon to highlight a paragraph that contains a particularly useful point that you’ll be wise to pay attention to.

Watch out and pay attention when you see this icon. The bother you save may be your own.

This icon points out a reminder or a point you’ll want to stow away in your long-term memory. You may be sorry if this little tidbit slips your mind.

When we get into details that are highly technical or even geeky, we let you know with this icon. We hope these tidbits will augment the understanding for the more technically inclined. Those with sensitive stomachs can gleefully ignore these icons.

Where to Go from Here

We created an overview of SOA and introduce you to all its significant components. Many chapters here could be expanded into full-length books of their own. SOA and the entire distributed technology landscape is a big focus for us at Hurwitz & Associates, and we invite you to visit our site and read our blogs and insights at www.hurwitz.com.

Part I

Getting Started with SOA

In this part . . .

Starting a SOA journey might seem daunting. But, as the sages say, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” In this part, we help you take that first step by showing you some great places to start your SOA journey and some great ways to do it.