An infrastructure where many -tier applications are deployed across the state, sharing common software services that are accessible from any user interface. In this environment, any application can access any service, provided the application has the proper security permissions. The greatest strength of a service-oriented architecture is the potential for repeatable rapid development of new applications.
(32NR) A Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) defines how two computing entities interact in such a way as to enable one entity to perform a unit of work on behalf of the another entity. The unit of work is refered to as a service, and the service interactions are defined using a description language. Each interaction is self-contained and loosley coupled, so that each interaction is independent of any other interaction. (329O)
A framework for integrating business processes and supporting IT infrastructure as secure, standardized components—services—that can be reused and combined to address changing business priorities.
A service-oriented architecture is a collection of services that communicate with each other. The services are self-contained and do not depend on the context or state of the other service. They work within a distributed systems architecture.
Whether you call it "dynamic IT", "on-demand" or "adaptive" architecture, the concept of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) has been swirling through IT conferences of late. SOAs provide the ability to create a connected environment that moves information from system to system in addition to allowing the broad reuse of services. This loose coupling of resources makes the model more flexible than traditional system architectures. The concept can be difficult to grasp, but the impact is clear: These methodologies are fundamentally changing the way we build our internal systems. According to a July 2005 Goldman Sachs survey of 100 CIOs, 87% currently use Web services and 54% plan to deploy infrastructure to support SOA by 2006. Read more...
Service-oriented architecture (SOA [pronounced "sÅ-uh" or "es-Å-Ä"]) describes a software architecture that defines the use of loosely coupled software services to support the requirements of business processes and software users. Resources on a networkAn alternative view, particularly after initial deployments, is that SOAs properly ought not dictate physical implementation, so the formal definition should not include "network."