We’ve built, hosted, and deployed cloud and SOA based infrastructures for a wide range of clients in many industries.
Today, companies of all sizes in all industries are handling an ever-increasing number of interactions and transactions. More and more, your customers, employees, and suppliers are looking for access to information. This increasing demand is putting pressure on your infrastructure, systems, applications, and IT resources. Supporting dynamic markets may require more flexibility than your traditional IT model offers. And as demands for data storage capacity explodes, datacenter costs continue to increase. Failing to respond to any of these challenges can slow business growth and put your company at a competitive disadvantage.
Software -as -a- Service (SAAS)
The terms “Software-as-a-Service” and “Service-Oriented Architecture” get thrown around a lot when it comes to discussions about business computing. And much too often, people use these terms in an improper context. Although they might seem similar, they could not be more different.
Explaining the difference can be a bit hard, since some of the concepts involved are a bit difficult to understand. But the most important thing to know is that:
- SaaS is a software delivery method, and that’s all
- SOA is a methodology for designing and automating business processes
- One is tactical, and the other is strategic
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
SOA is a fairly difficult to grasp, and many people have required months of education just to get their heads around it. In order to touch on some of the core concepts behind SOA, I’d like to present a short story that illustrates some of its more practical applications.