Conference: SOA Track

Increased information privacy legislation requires organizations to secure online processes, including automated business processes with partners. Organizations are challenged to achieve this because their information systems, HR, ERP, CRM, and finance, were not designed to provide the secure interoperability required for automating workflow. Web services technologies offer a new architecture for enterprises struggling to automate business processes - a services-oriented architecture (SOA). While Web services deliver efficient automated workflows, governance is lost. An emerging alternative model for SOA deployment is presented which includes a network-embedded security and compliance infrastructure applicable to healthcare, finance, utilities, state & local government, and education.

What is service oriented architecture (SOA)? Is it really happening or is it just vendor hype? Are we witnessing a revolution in software design, integration and interoperability? For many, SOA sounds suspiciously familiar, evoking the same over-promised vendor-hype of previous failed integration attempts such as CORBA. Is SOA more than web services? Are companies really deploying service-oriented architectures, or are they just using the word as a shorthand for SOAP interfaces and a bit of ESB? Panelists will debate the hype vs. reality of SOA in today's enterprise.