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SOA Versus Traditional Integration by Krish Khambadkone

Krish Khambadkone is a Client Architect at Infogain with over 18 years of experience in architecting and building systems. He is currently focused on Middleware and SOA integration both at the Strategic and Tactical levels, mainly in the areas of SOA evangelization and governance.

Prior to the advent of SOA, the true contender for Enterprise Integration was EAI. A plethora of tools and technologies emerged in this space quickly to fill the void. However, due to a lack of standards in the initial stages several issues arose, including:
  • Proprietary vendor toolsets leading to lengthy learning curves
  • Complex and lengthy implementation cycles
  • Department- or Business Unit-Specific containering for EAI implementations
  • Limited application shelf life
  • Technology-driven implementations without the requisite business goal analysis.

With each vendor defining its own approach to EAI, the selection of the most strategic toolset was often a daunting task in and of itself. The following table highlights some of the differences between the two approaches.

EAI SOA
Technology Driven Business Driven
Project Based, confined to Department or Business Group Enterprise Driven, Company-wide effort
Generally a Bottom Up approach, driven by product and technology Starts with Top Down approach, followed by bottom up and then settles with Hybrid
Partially supported by standards Almost wholly standards based at all levels with XSD, WSDL, JAX-WS, BPEL etc.
Extension of client server and Point to Point (Adapter) integration paradigms New Paradigm that requires a new train of thought
Can work successfully with traditional software development methodologies such as SDLC, SCRUM, Agile Needs new types of control mechanisms such as Governance and Competency Centers in addition to traditional methodologies
Integration pattern generally resembles Hub and Spoke Several patterns of integration possible, of which Hub and Spoke can be a component
Does not lend itself to enterprise-wide integration Complements your existing investment in middleware by adding an Enterprise Integration Layer on top


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