Wrapping up the SOA Exec Forum

I had a great time speaking at the forum yesterday, including meeting the people I communicate with on line, but never get a chance to meet in person. Also, pretty much anybody who is anybody in the SOA world is moving on to SPARK this weekend...so I'll be spending the weekend with many of the same people. A little strange, but what the heck, as long as we don't have to shower together.

Here are a few observations from this event:

This thing is packed. If they were not sold out, they were approaching being sold out. Mostly architect types, IT leaders, project managers, and a few developers, which was a good mix of people.

Jeff Gleason of Transamerica Life Insurance's Keynote - Achieving Reusability with SOA, rocked. He really opened the doors to what these guys are working on, and told us about how SOA works, and does not work, within a key user organization.

People are getting smarter. After a year or two of trying to figure out SOA, people are much more sophisticated about the approaches and technologies. They are not looking for quick fixes, but practical ways to make this stuff work.

Vendors are happy. This market is moving forward, and their valuations are going up, as well as sales. In looking around the vendor room, however, I could not help but think about who would be next for acquisition. I think by the next conference 1 or 2 of the smaller guys will be owned by a larger player.

This is a fun and exciting space right now, this conference did a good job of pumping me up, again. I think the technology is growing, and the professionals in this area are first rate. I'm looking forward to the next few years.

Posted by Dave Linthicum on March 17, 2006 05:31 AM