Criticisms of SOA

[sukishan]

Criticisms of SOA
Some criticisms of SOA depend on the assumption that SOA is just another term for Web Services. For example, some critics[who?] claim SOA results in the addition of XML layers, introducing XML parsing and composition. In the absence of native or binary forms of Remote Procedure Call (RPC), applications could run slower and require more processing power, increasing costs.

Most implementations do incur these overheads, but SOA can be implemented using technologies (for example, Java Business Integration (JBI)) that do not depend on remote procedure calls or translation through XML. At the same time, there are emerging, open-source XML parsing technologies, such as VTD-XML, and various XML-compatible binary formats that promise to significantly improve the SOA performance.

Stateful services require both the consumer and the provider to share the same consumer-specific context, which is either included in or referenced by messages exchanged between the provider and the consumer. This constraint has the drawback that it could reduce the overall scalability of the service provider because it might need to remember the shared context for each consumer.

It also increases the coupling between a service provider and a consumer and makes switching service providers more difficult. Ultimately, some critics feel that SOA services are still too constrained by applications they represent.

Another concern is that WS-* standards and products are still evolving (e. g., transaction, security), and SOA can thus introduce new risks unless properly managed and estimated with additional budget and contingency for additional Proof of Concept work.

Some critics[who?] feel SOA is merely an obvious evolution of currently well-deployed architectures (open interfaces, etc).

The ability to easily modify systems is sometimes omitted from IT system design. Many systems, including SOAs, hard-code the operations, goods and services of the organization, thus restricting their online service and business agility in the global marketplace.[citation needed]

The next step in the design process covers the definition of a Service Delivery Platform (SDP) and its implementation. It is in the SDP design phase where one defines the business information models, identity management, products, content, devices, and the end user service characteristics, as well as how agile the system is so that it can deal with the evolution of the business and its customers.