Informatica Perspectives

The "last mile" is a powerful metaphor from the world of telecommunications and cable TV which can serve as an analogy for modern-day SOA challenges.  The issue in telecommunications is related to the fact that the high-bandwidth fiber-optic links between major centers are extremely efficient and cost effective, but the cost of fanning out cabling in the last mile to homes and offices drives up the cost and complexity tremendously. 

There are also “last mile” parallels in SOA. The basic elements of SOA are extremely efficient and effective.  Specifically, technologies like SOAP, XML, and web services in general are well understood, mature, and work.  Unfortunately, the problem with SOA is not the technology.  SOA’s last mile is related to getting the data right and dealing with organizational issues such as ownership and funding.

The data issue may be the most challenging.  The issues are related to establishing, and sustaining, common agreed-upon definitions of data across the organization.  This is a business issue as opposed to a technology issue which has been largely overlooked by many SOA implementations.  As a result, while the technology works just fine, the users and business sponsors are still in the trough of disillusionment and are wondering when the promised benefits of SOA will materialize.

The good news is that there is a solution.  But don’t look for it in a technology product.  The solution revolves around treating data as a first class citizen and establishing a formal governance process for an explicit data abstraction layer in the enterprise architecture. Furthermore, an Integration Competency Center (or equivalent group) is a key part of the solution.

Whether you agree or disagree, I am interested in your comments on this point of view.  To that end, let me suggest two options; 1) submit a comment to this posting, or 2) attend the IC SOA webinar that Ash Parikh and I are delivering at 2pm EST on September 18th http://www.integrationconsortium.org/events/event_details.asp?id=28947 and let us respond to your comments in real-time. You can also check out Ash’s article on this topic at http://virtualization.sys-con.com/node/620374.

In the webinar, we will discuss how SOA’s inherent capabilities for flexibility, responsiveness, and reuse can be enhanced with consistent, accurate, and timely data delivered as a service. We will see how data services can provide a standards-based data abstraction layer to an SOA, and deliver holistic, accurate, and timely data as a service, and the role of a Real-Time ICC or SOA COE in enabling and governing these capabilities.