Choosing your business applications throughservice oriented architecture (SOA)should be as easy
as using iTunes, according to software supplier Fundtech.
The company, which develops
financial services software, thinks businesses should liken the
use of SOA to the development of iPods and iTunes.
Fundtech said that IT departments that use SOA will be able to
provide business users with lists of services that have already
been coded. They can use these services to create new business
applications with only a minimum amount of extra coding.
"The SOA service catalogue promises to have the same impact on
enterprise computing as the iTunes playlist has had on listening to
music," said George Ravich, chief marketing officer at
Fundtech.
He said when businesses need a new application they should look
at the list of existing code and re-use as much as possible.
For example if you are a bank and create a new application that
requires authentication of customers you can just lift the
application from the SOA application list. He said this should be
as easy as creating a music compilation on an iPod.
"Prior to the iPod, people listened to songs on a vinyl record
or a CD in the order that the publisher determined. If you wanted
to play several songs from different albums, it was a complicated
and time-consuming activity," added Ravich. "Now, with an iPod, you
can take the individual songs you own and create an endless number
of play lists. Each song track is reusable in different settings
and situations, under the full control of the listener," he
said.
"Similarly, prior to SOA, enterprise applications trapped
business processes within inflexible workflows. Without extensive
IT development the reuse of any single business process became
unfeasible within these systems, leading to multiple versions of
the same process being developed separately for different
applications and channels."
Fundtech is developing a new range of SOA compatible
applications.