It seems to me that many of the organizations looking at SOA are now moving from the conceptual and study phases, to real projects. The analysts are looking at this trend as well, and I think that 2007 is going to be the year of the major SOA project upstarts.

Unfortunately, when you move from the hyped phase of looking at a new notion, such as SOA, to the realities of actually doing something, you typically find that the hype somehow falls short. While I have not heard about widespread disappointment yet, it's pretty much always an issue in the lifecycle of a TLA. This does not undermine the value of the notion of SOA, but that you can't really get "SOA in a box," nor does "SOA 2.0" exist, perhaps because we never figured out what SOA 1.0 was, really.

So, what will the realities be?

First, that SOA is a systemic change in the way we do architecture, and layering on technology won't provide enough change to make SOA work. You need to drive the concepts down deep into your enterprise, down to applications built years ago. That's where things get a bit tough.

Second, you need smart people to pull this off. Thus, your existing IT guys may have to go, or at least get completely retrained. The people issues here, I'm finding, are the stumbling point for most organizations.

Finally, you need to lubricate the skids with cash. SOA is not cheap, and most of my clients are understating the cost of this "systemic change." The value is there, once complete, and you will get your money back. However, the startup costs are pretty high.

Let these sink in, and you won't have a "Reality Bites" moment next year.

Posted by Dave Linthicum on December 1, 2006 05:28 AM