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Microsoft
plans to enhance its existing middleware range and introduce new products in an
effort to catch up in the service oriented architecture (SOA) space.
The company has bundled its SOA efforts under the Project Oslo banner,
claiming that the initiative will allow firms to achieve the benefits of SOA
without the associated complexity.
Microsoft plans to add SOA functionality to its forthcoming BizTalk Server 6
and add SOA support to .Net Framework 4.
Visual Studio .Net 10 will gain application life-cycle management features,
and Microsoft said that is working to align metadata repositories across its
middleware products.
Microsoft mentions components that are essential parts of any SOA. But
analysts believe that the vendor is choosing to ignore the fundamental
underpinnings of such an architecture by using closed standards and proprietary
interfaces.
"They are not playing ball with anybody else playing the SOA game," Ron
Schmeltzer, a senior analyst with
ZapThink,
told vnunet.com.
"The core Microsoft customer base will be excited, as it's a strong step
forward for them. But enterprise architects with a heterogeneous architecture
will wait until it's based on open standards."
SOAs allow applications to be built out of components or services. A currency
conversion module or log-in functionality, for example, would be centrally
maintained and developed, and used throughout the company, between companies or
as a rented service from an outside provider.
Standards-based SOAs allow users to swap out components, buying a repository
from BEA, for example, and using it with IBM's WebSphere web server and Software
AG's security module.
Companies could also share services without the need for special translators
or integration modules. Microsoft's SOA will not offer any of these benefits.
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