SOA and cloud: Clearing up the 'foggy' relationship
Friday, April 24, 2009 11:14 AM
SOA cannot be replaced by cloud computing, or can it? An expert clears the air.
In a new article, Dave Linthicum says the most common question he gets nowadays is: "How will our organization move from SOA to cloud computing?"
"That's just not logical," according to him.
Why not? Because SOA is an architectural pattern and strategy, while cloud computing is a type of solution:
"Putting this more simply, SOA is all about the process of defining an IT solution or architecture, while cloud computing is an architectural alternative. Thus, SOA can't be replaced by cloud computing. In fact, most cloud computing solutions are going to be defined through SOA. They don't compete--they are complementary notions."
SOA will make many cloud computing arrangements not only technically feasible, but also make it palatable from a business perspective.
The ability to create a successful cloud computing solution means having an information-, service-, and process-level understanding of the problem domain," Linthicum explained.
"Then, break the architecture down into services that are decomposed and normalized, and then define core business processes that leverage those services," he further noted. Sounds like a job for SOA.
The cloud approach, then, is actually the technology solution that gets applied against the architecture or strategy. Remember, SOA has nothing to do with the technology applied against it. But cloud computing does represent a potent technology solution that is now available to enterprises.
So the question that should be asked is not "How will our organization move from SOA to cloud computing?" but "How can our organization develop a service-oriented approach to a business problem, and is cloud computing the appropriate technology solution for delivering the required services?"
Joe McKendrick is an author and independent analyst who tracks the impact of information technology on management and markets. He is a member of the ZDNet.com blog network.
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