Gartner analyst Nick Gall was recently quoted in eWeek saying that everybody will be doing SOA in 18 months. Brainstorm suspects this is unlikely, the IT industry being what it is. We decided to put the question out there.

❒ This question perpetuates the illusion that SOA is something that can be purchased and deployed, thus allowing people to ‘do’ SOA. It’s been commoditised to the point where we even pronounce the acronym. Let’s get back to what SOA stands for – service oriented architecture. SOA adoption is a nebulous concept and constantly evolves: from implementing the basic technology foundations, to an enterprise-wide shift in how to build and connect systems. At what point can you say that you are ‘doing’ SOA? Deploying the technology is not enough. You need to be showing a return. – Nick McKenzie, technical director, nVisionIT