Definition of Service Oriented Architecture
As a business approach, service oriented architecture, or SOA, allows the leveraging of information technology assets and creates a platform for the changes that are inevitable in any business environment. Businesses interact with and pull data from a wide variety of sources. SOA recreates the business environment into software modules that are then used as needed. By consolidating technology infrastructure in this way, companies can find new levels of efficiency.
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Distributed Computing
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Service orientation is an information technology strategy that links resources across systems, allowing access to the resources as needed. SOA developed from the idea of distributed computing. Distributed computing solves computational issues by separating an issue into many tasks and then running those tasks simultaneously over several software and hardware systems. These systems all run on a similarly controlled operating framework or network.
Service Orientation
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In SOA, a business' software applications are divided into functions and offered as services to all applications. Functions are business processes defined within a software application--for example, defined processes can be data entry for a customer account or the processing of a retail transaction. Using a service oriented architecture allows developers and integrators to build an application using these offered functions without knowing or using their underlying applications.
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Recycle and Reuse
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In SOA, software and IT assets are examined and separated for the purpose of reusing and recycling. Instead of designing a new process or system, existing assets are mined and similarities are identified and consolidated. Functions within applications are separated into services and then repackaged for more efficient use and access by all departments.
Restructuring Infrastructure
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A complete restructuring of the computing environment takes place in a SOA. In 2008, for example, Allstate Insurance modernized claims processing (traditionally spread across nine separate mainframes and then linked with a custom interface) by using an enterprise service bus (emerging architecture allowing integrated services), which allowed claims processing through one access point for the entire company. The next undertaking for Allstate, according to ZDNet.com, was developing a shared integration layer for all company data.
Removing Redundancy
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Other businesses are initially using SOA with a simple goal in mind--to remove redundancy. Oppenheimer Funds began using SOA to remove duplicate data entry, according to ZDNet.com. After achieving their first goal they moved on to removing duplicate processes. In the process they created a centralized address-change service, then an "update bank information" service and an electronic imaging service for paper documentation. Oppenheimer customer service representatives now use 22 software programs in varying combinations but through a single interface.
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