SOA- Service Oriented Architecture

software vendors have been creating development and infrastructure products for the latest IT architecture style - Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Recognizing the immense value SOA can bring to IT, companies like BEA, IBM, and Microsoft have delivered products to help customers design and build SOA-based applications. These vendor-driven initiatives are beginning to sprout actual customer-developed applications that are built on the promise of SOA, such as better flexibility, agility and reuse.

A challenge facing many organizations is how to quickly and effectively react to frequent changes in business requirements, whilst improving productivity and reducing costs. To achieve this, you need a flexible infrastructure that can meet the demands of a changing marketplace and seize emerging opportunities. To address this challenge, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) promotes an architectural approach that replaces rigid proprietary systems with heterogeneous, "loosely-coupled" services. The Service Component Architecture (SCA), along with Service Data Objects (SDO), makes this architectural concept a reality and provides the programming model to build SOA solutions for agile businesses.