Summary

This chapter revisited the problems stated in the previous chapter. Organizations need to be agile since they are confronted with changing external and internal drivers. The better an organization deals with these changes, the more successful it is.

You have seen how SOA can help address issues such as duplication of data and functionality, increase flexibility, and speed up time-to-market of new solutions. To do so you have first explored the concepts of SOA; the cornerstone of SOA is services. In the broadest sense of the word, a service is something useful a provider offers to consumers. This can be something tangible like a carton of milk, or something intangible such as an insurance product. A service in terms of SOA is regarded as a set of capabilities that belong together and whose capabilities are accessible to consumers. Services are building blocks that are well-defined, possibly reusable, and provide business value. Every service has a contract, interface, and implementation...