SOA is the most important initiative facing IT and is difficult to grasp. This book demystifies the topic of SOA and makes it accessible to those people who hear the term but aren't really sure what it means. It covers what SOA is, why it matters, how it can impact businesses, and how to take steps to implement SOA in a corporate environment.

Massive, disruptive change is coming to IT as software as a service (SaaS), SOA, mashups, Web 2.0, and cloud computing truly come of age. Now, one of the world’s leading IT innovators explains what it all means—coherently, thoroughly, and authoritatively. Writing for IT executives, architects, and developers alike, world-renowned expert David S. Linthicum explains why the days of managing IT organizations as private fortresses will rapidly disappear as IT inevitably becomes a global community. He demonstrates how to run IT when critical elements of customer, product, and business data and processes extend far beyond the firewall—and how to use all that information to deliver real-time answers about everything from an individual customer’s credit to the location of a specific cargo container. Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise offers a clear-eyed assessment of the challenges associated with this new world—and offers a step-by-step program for getting there with maximum return on investment and minimum risk. Using multiple examples, Linthicum Reviews the powerful cost, value, and risk-related drivers behind the move to cloud computing—and explains why the shift will accelerate Explains the technical underpinnings, supporting technologies, and best-practice methods you’ll need to make the transition Helps you objectively assess the promise of cloud computing and SOA for your organization, quantify value, and make the business case Walks you through evaluating your existing IT infrastructure and finding your most cost-effective, safest path to the “cloud” Shows how to choose the right candidate data, services, and processes for your cloud computing initiatives Guides you through building disruptive infrastructure and next-generation process platforms Helps you bring effective, high-value governance to the clouds If you’re ready to begin driving real competitive advantage from cloud computing, this book is the start-to-finish roadmap you need to make it happen.

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"Service Oriented Architecture is a hot, but often misunderstood topic in IT today. Thomas articulately describes the concepts, specifications, and standards behind service orientation and Web Services. For enterprises adopting SOA, there is detailed advice for service-oriented analysis, planning, and design. This book is a must read!" --Alex Lynch, Principal Consultant, Microsoft Enterprise Services "One primary objective of applying SOA in design is to provide business value to the solutions we build. Understanding the right approach to analyzing, designing, and developing service-oriented solutions is critical. Thomas has done a great job of demystifying SOA in practical terms with his book." --Rick Weaver, IBM Senior Consulting Certified SW I/T Specialist "A pragmatic guide to SOA principles, strategy, and best practices that distills the hype into a general framework for approaching SOA adoption in complex enterprise environments." --Sameer Tyagi, Senior Staff Engineer, Sun Microsystems "A very timely and much needed contribution to a rapidly emerging field. Through clarifying the principles and nuances of this space, the author provides a comprehensive treatment of critical key aspects of SOA from analysis and planning to standards ranging from WS-specifications to BPEL. I''ll be recommending this book to both clients and peers who are planning on embracing SOA principles." --Ravi Palepu, Senior Field Architect, Rogue Wave Software "Finally, an SOA book based on real implementation experience in production environments. Too many SOA books get lost in the technical details of Web Services standards, or simply repeat vendor hype. This book covers the really hard parts: the complex process of planning, designing and implementing service-oriented architectures that meet organizational goals. It is an essential companion to any software developer, architect, or project manager implementing--or thinking about implementing--a service-oriented architecture." --Priscilla Walmsley, Managing Director of Datypic "Thomas Erl''s Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design is as good an introduction to service-oriented architectures as one could wish for. In a single volume, it covers the entire topic, from theory to real-world use to technical details. The examples are superb and the writing is wonderfully clear." --Ronald Bourret, Author, "XML and Databases" "Finally an SOA book which gets to the point with real world answers and examples. Erl guides you on a real world SOA journey. From architecture design to industry standards, this book is well written and can be easily referenced for everyday use. When embarking on your own service orientated adventures, this is the book you want in your bag." --Clark Sell, Vice President, CSell Incorporated "Organizations struggling to evolve existing service-oriented solutions beyond simple Web Services now have an expert resource available. Leading the way to the true service-oriented enterprise, Thomas Erl demystifies the complexities of the open WS-I standards with detailed practical discussions and case studies. Erl''s depth and clarity makes this work a superb complement to his Field Guide." --Kevin P. Davis, PhD., Software Architect "This book is an excellent guide for architects, developers, and managers who are already working with or are considering developing Web Services or Service-Oriented Architecture solutions. The book is divided into four sections. In the first section the fundamental technologies of XML, Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures are described in detail with attention given to emerging standards. The book is well written and very thorough in its coverage of the subject. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in enterprise level service architectures." --Adam Hocek, President and CTO, Broadstrokes, Inc. Additional praise quotes are published at: www.soabooks.com/reviews.asp The foremost "how-to" guide to SOA Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is at the heart of a revolutionary computing platform that is being adopted world-wide and has earned the support of every major software provider. In Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design, Thomas Erl presents the first end-to-end tutorial that provides step-by-step instructions for modeling and designing service-oriented solutions from the ground up. Erl uses more than 125 case study examples and over 300 diagrams to illuminate the most important facets of building SOA platforms: goals, obstacles, concepts, technologies, standards, delivery strategies, and processes for analysis and design. His book''s broad coverage includes Detailed step-by-step processes for service-oriented analysis and service-oriented design An in-depth exploration of service-orientation as a distinct design paradigm, including a comparison to object-orientation A comprehensive study of SOA support in .NET and J2EE development and runtime platforms Descriptions of over a dozen key Web services technologies and WS-* specifications, including explanations of how they interrelate and how they are positioned within SOA The use of "In Plain English" sections, which describe complex concepts through non-technical analogies Guidelines for service-oriented business modeling and the creation of specialized service abstraction layers A study contrasting past architectures with SOA and reviewing current industry influences Project planning and the comparison of different SOA delivery strategies The goal of this book is to help you attain a solid understanding of what constitutes contemporary SOA along with step-by-step guidance for realizing its successful implementation. About the Web Sites Erl''s Service-Oriented Architecture books are supported by two Web sites. http:// www.soabooks.com provides a variety of content resources and http:// www.soaspecs.com supplies a descriptive portal to referenced specifications. � Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Includes preliminary number dated Apr. 1927.