SOA Best Practices: A Conversation with Mark Hapner (Sun Engineer)

This is an interesting interview about the point-of-view from SUN about SOA and SOA-related tecnologies (e.g. WS).

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) has arrived, and with it have come a faster application development process and the ability to adapt more flexibly to changing business needs. The Gartner Group predicts that "By 2008, SOA will be a prevailing software engineering practice, ending the 40-year domination of monolithic software architecture." So what is SOA? Basically, it's an IT approach in which applications rely on services available on a network such as the web to facilitate business processes. Implementing an SOA can involve developing applications that use services, making applications available as services so that other applications can use those services, or both.

To get up-to-date on the importance of SOA for Java technology developers, we met with Mark Hapner, Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems, who has served as lead architect of the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE, formerly known as J2EE), co-lead of the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification, and lead for Java Message Service (JMS). He is currently Sun's chief web services strategist. Hapner also helped create Java Business Integration (JBI) and is Sun's board member on the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I).

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Phil Wainewright wrote this interesting post on his blog about SaaS (Software as a Service). I truly believe in SaaS and I think that this new approach can change our "old ideas" regarding software delivery.
One of the references in SaaS is Amy Wohl; more than an enthusiastic, she is a evangelist! If you believe in software as a service, read these list that Mr. Wainewright prepared and visit Whol`s website:

• Enterprise SaaS
• SaaS versus Free Software
• But How Will We Make Money?
• Is SaaS About New Applications or New Forms of Distribution?
• SaaS versus the Storm
• How Big is an SaaS Customer?
• How to Introduce Users to Software as a Service
• SaaS is Based on Service

Extending the RUP with the Enterprise Unified Process (EUP)

This is the Scott W. Ambler's proposal: extend the RUP, creating the EUP (Enterprise Unified Process), to meet the real-world needs of mid-to-large-sized organizations.

The Rationale:

Thousands of organizations worldwide have adopted the Rational Unified Process (RUP) to help improve their software development processes. But Scott Ambler points out that we need to go even further; the Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) extends the RUP to meet the real-world needs of mid- to large-sized organizations.

Beyond Sw Development:

There is more to the lifecycle of a system than software development. The operation and support of a system after it’s in production are crucial to your success; why bother building the system if you can’t run it? The retirement of a system that is no longer needed or that is to be replaced by another system is also important

The EUP phases are:
1. Inception. During this phase, you achieve stakeholder consensus regarding the objectives for the project and obtain funding;
2. Elaboration. During this phase, you specify requirements in greater detail and prove the architecture for the system;
3. Construction. The focus of this phase is developing the system to the point where it’s ready for deployment;
4. Transition. This phase focuses on delivering the system into production;
5. Production. This phase encompasses the period of the system lifecycle at which you operate and support a system until it’s either replaced with a new version or retired and removed completely from use;
6. Retirement. The focus of this phase is the removal of a system from production;

Time for an SOA-open source mashup

This time Joe Mckendrick talk again about the (inevitable) mix between proprietary and open-source SOA implementation. See why:

It's an unavoidable fact; many SOAs will be running on the LAMP (Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP/Perl/Python) and LAMJ (Linux-Apache-MySQL-J2EE) stacks.

Also:

The open-source JBoss, JonAS, and Apache application servers are also open-source phenomena that are becoming a huge part of the Web services/SOA scene. True, an SOA can be constructed entirely on commercial software with standardized interfaces. But an SOA running on a commodity open-source environment — built with open-source toolsets — is an incredible value proposition, far more than an SOA built on WebSphere, WebLogic, or Microsoft BizTalk and .NET. These app servers have steep licensing costs, and companies looking for low-end platforms to build their services can turn to open-source app servers such as JBoss and Apache Geronimo.

IBM

Consider the evolving strategies of two of the biggest infrastructure providers, IBM and BEA. IBM loves Linux, of course, one, because it's not Microsoft, and two, because the open-source OS provides a growth path for Big Blue's legacy systems ... ...For IBM, this is an entree into the small to medium size business market, and in response to the growing prevalence of open-source products such as JBoss and JonAS.

BEA

...For example, in October, BEA announces a "blended" approach to provide automated management and production-level support for customers using the open-source Apache Tomcat servlet container. Previously, BEA Systems has made overtures to the open-source folks, announcing that new updates to its Beehive component-based development environment were available through the open-source Apache Software Foundation. The Apache Beehive projects will also be able to run on JOnAS, Apache Geronimo, and Apache Tomcat server

Five SOA Predictions for 2006

Dave Linthicum posted this post on Jan, 2nd '06: his 5 SOA "hot topics" for this year. They are:

1. More consolidation. Usually, in an emerging space, consolidation occurs once a space gets hot then begins to cool.

2. Focus on outside-in SOA. As we begin to stand up more public Web services and marketplaces that sell them, there will be a focus on how to leverage those services within the enterprise.

3. Focus on ROI. At the end of the day we should be able to define the amount of money a SOA will save us, now and longer term.

4. Movement to true services. As we learn more about this technology we're also learning the differences between information- and service-oriented integration, and understand that true services provide more value.

5. A few killer SOAs will emerge. As we get better at implementing this technology, a few very good architectures will begin to emerge that add a great deal of value to the organizations who implement them.

SOA and Java: SYS-CON Announces Readers' Choice Awards

SYS-CON Announces Readers' Choice Awards for SOA, Web Services, Java, and XML Technologies
— SYS-CON Media announced today the results of its 10th annual 'Readers' Choice Awards' for best products and tools for the SOA, Web Services, Java and XML technologies. Winners and three finalists were announced today in 21 categories by SOA Web Services Journal. Java Developer's Journal also announced winners and finalists in 26 distinct product and tool categories.

Some results:
SOA

1) Best SOA / Service-Oriented Architecture
Winner: webMethods Enterprise Services Platform (webMethods)

Runners-Up:
1) BEA WebLogic Platform (BEA Systems)
2) IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation (IBM)
3) Artix (IONA Technologies)

2) Best Application Server for SOA / Web Services
Winner: BEA WebLogic Server 8.1 (BEA Systems)

Runners-Up:
1) Sun Java System Application Server (Sun Microsystems)
2) JBoss Application Server (JBoss)
3) WebSphere Application Server (IBM)

3) Best Web Services Platform
Winner: Java EE (Sun Microsystems)

6) Best Framework for SOA and Web Services
Winner: Java Web Services Developer Pack (Sun Microsystems)

10) Best GUI for SOA
Winner: Eclipse (Eclipse Foundation)

20) Best SOA Portal Platform
Winner: Sun Java System Portal Server (Sun Microsystems)

Java
1) Best Java Application Server
Winner: BEA WebLogic Server (BEA Systems)
Runners-Up:
1) JBoss Application Server (JBoss)

2) Best Java Application
Winner: Eclipse (Eclipse Foundation)

10) Best Rich Client Platform
Winner: Eclipse Rich Client Platform (Eclipse Foundation)

13) Best Java Messaging Tool
Winner: IBM WebSphere MQ (IBM)

17) Best Team Development Tool
Winner: Eclipse IDE (Eclipse Foundation)

26) Best Java Book
Winner: Hibernate in Action (Manning Publications)
Runners-Up:
1) J2EE BluePrints (Sun Microsystems)
2) Core Java 2 (Sun Microsystems)
3) Java Developer’s Guide to Eclipse (IBM)