Service oriented architecture SOA

This article is intended primarily for anyone interested in IT systems architecture. It aims to explain the "revolution" behind the SOA style, how to recognize an SOA architecture and the consequences of its introduction in companies.

The acronym SOA (Service Oriented Architecture or microservices) became fashionable at the beginning of 2005, thanks to the successful deployment of the Internet in the public and corporate sectors. In just a few months, all product and service providers were discovering that each one was more SOA than the next. Careful reading of their documentation is perplexing, as insipid marketing or technical speeches clearly demonstrate that their products or methods, which have remained unchanged, conform neither closely nor remotely to the SOA style.

The SOA style can be applied to any technology for any purpose. However, the SOA revolution is driven by Internet standards. Naturally, this will be the framework for this article, particularly for the examples.

There are two W3C (World Wide Web Consortium http://www.w3.org ) working groups covering the subject of SOA, one on the architecture of the World Wide Web http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-webarch-20041215/ , which is essential reading, and another on web services, which is fortunately in the process of being abandoned ( https://www.w3.org/standards/techs/soap#w3c_all ), whose serious weaknesses we shall see later.