Saturday, 28 October 2006

OASIS Approves SOA Reference Model Version 1.0

OASIS has approved the Reference Model for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA-RM) version 1.0 as an OASIS Standard. SOA-RM is said to provide an abstract framework for understanding significant entities and their relationships within a...

OASIS has approved the Reference Model for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA-RM) version 1.0 as an OASIS Standard. SOA-RM is said to provide an abstract framework for understanding significant entities and their relationships within a service-oriented environment. SOA-RM enables the development of specific reference or concrete architectures using consistent standards, the company said in a statement.

"SOA-RM is a true reference model, based on unifying concepts of SOA," noted Lawrence Wilkes, analyst at Everware-CBDI. "This level of definition is much needed by enterprise developers working on specific SOAs."

"There are many different definitions of SOA being used in the marketplace today," observed Duane Nickull of Adobe Systems, chair of the OASIS SOA-RM Technical Committee. "By providing a clear, singular point of reference, the SOA-RM enables even those with unique ideas about SOA to describe their work in quantifiable terms that can be commonly understood."

SOA-RM is not directly tied to any specific Web services standards, technologies, or other concrete implementation details. Instead, it offers common semantics that can be used across different implementations, the company added.

"As a key education piece, SOA-RM brings clarity to definitions and understanding to the concepts and associations typically used within any SOA," noted Wesley McGregor, senior advisor for the Treasury Board of Canada. "SOA-RM is a solid model from which the Canadian Federal Government derives useful reference architectures."

Participation in the OASIS SOA-RM Technical Committee remains open to all; suppliers, end-users and system integrators are invited to join OASIS to advance the continued development and use of SOA-RM. OASIS hosts an open mail list for public comment and the soa-rm-dev mailing list for exchanging information on implementing the standard, the company said.