SOA tools--virtually bridging the legacy divide Part 2
BEA
Both Plummer and Bloomberg say that with its AquaLogic program and software (primarily its ESB), BEA will be strong in service creation and deployment but not, in the near term, management. And because it has made fewer and more focused acquisitions than some other majors, it will be able to offer an integration-intensive, organic solution faster than others.
SAP
With its NetWeaver service platform and ESA set of services, SAP is stressing strong creation and deployment software functionality rather than higher-level professional services and tools like governance. Plummer says SAP will excel in data management and service and process creation and maintenance, and will encourage customers to adapt specific services to enable existing business processes rather than, for example, buy general SOA suites and adapt processes to the functionality therein.
Bloomberg contends that SAP is not broadening its SOA offerings through acquisitions, but transforming its entire application portfolio into a service-based one from the ground up. Therefore, he says that it will have a more elegant end-to-end SOA offering than vendors using an acquisitions approach.
Sun
Plummer and Bloomberg agree that Sun is taking a holistic and somewhat agnostic approach to SOA by emphasizing SOA creation, deployment and management professional services that leverage its acquired and legacy technology as well as that of other vendors, but it has yet to develop a formal governance offering. Niche SOA products The third part of this article, to be published in a future issue of KMWorld, will discuss examples of SOA tools in each category offered by SOA niche players, many of whom--like registry/repository and ESB vendors--were earliest to market with offerings that did much to pave the way for vendors with products with ancillary functionality like service-oriented process.
John Harney is president of ASPWatch, a consultancy focusing on market, partner and technology strategy for ASPs, e-mail johnharney2@netzero.com.