What is a Service Oriented Architecture?

The Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a design to overcome former limitations by disaggregating databases, communications and applications into separate “services”. Under such an arrangement each of the major components of a corporate system is a stand-alone module constructed with interfaces that are subject to international standards. In SOA any component can call on services by any other component over a shared network. In the case of global commerce, the interconnectivity is managed via Internet using agreed protocols. George Mason University Producer: Ken Santucci Lecturer: Paul A. Strassmann