The SOA Integration Framework is basically IBM helping clients to do SOA with a little help from its software and services. IBM said: [The framework is] a new services capability built on WebSphere, Rational, and Tivoli middleware and consisting of IBM SOA patterns, processes, and tools that greatly speeds services delivery of flexible, lower-risk SOA solutions.
The company said it offers guidance on creating business processes and services, runtime environments, and the appropriate management frameworks for SOA applications and environments.
The Business Integration Adoption Model, meanwhile, is said to be based on the knowledge of IBM clients that have already deployed SOAs, and is designed to accelerate the business benefits from SOA and establish a roadmap for customers’ SOA strategies.
Since January, both IBM and rival BEA Systems have been selling their visions for SOA, both of which include various software, services, education and best practices advice. In January, BEA launched a SOA Readiness Self Assessment service, while the same month IBM Global Services unwrapped SOA Modeling and Architecture, SOMA, a set of best practices and tools for SOA to bridge the gap between the business and IT infrastructure, again delivered through its services arm.
However, so far, the education, workshops, and marketing have failed to fully hit the mark. As ComputerWire reported yesterday, a BEA survey of 1,000 C-level managers, IT managers, and programmers found that only 44% were familiar with SOA, and on a scale of 1 to 4, where 1 meant you have the basic concepts of SOA and 4 meant you were already an advanced adherent to this approach of developing software as a mesh of services, the average response was just 1.76.
Undeterred, unveiling its Business Integration Adoption Model yesterday, IBM said it builds on its best practices, investments in middleware, consulting, and implementation services. SOA represents the promise of integrating diverse services and applications, it said, so they can share information and communicate with each other. Small, mid-sized, and large businesses alike can benefit from SOA because it can make operations more efficient and provide greater flexibility to respond to marketplace demands.
IBM said the new model helps align business goals and tie business processes to underlying applications. It also launched a free online assessment so businesses can see their level of SOA exploitation and see what their next moves should be, much like the BEA SOA Readiness Self Assessment service launched in January.
Finally, IBM is offering online and classroom education courses, and a series of WebSphere Integration Architecture Workshops, said to be one-on-one client tailored workshops delivered at the client location that help jump-start an enterprise’s SOA strategy.
