Many enterprises are developing service oriented architectures (SOA) to improve the flow of data between their business applications and decrease overall costs through increased reuse across the organization. At the same time enterprises are using more open source software (OSS) in business applications to control costs and increase agility. Should these two efforts be treated independently, are they in conflict with each other, or are there benefits from bringing them together?

Adam Michelson, Optaros´ Director of Open Source Enterprise Architecture, explores these issues in a pair of new white papers titled “Service Oriented Architecture and Open Source Solutions” and “Delivering Service Oriented Architecture.” These papers are designed for enterprise CIOs and architects who are currently planning new SOA strategies and applications for their organizations.

“For a SOA to meet its objectives, its services need to be reused again and again across an organization to improve functional consistency and drive down total cost of ownership. By implementing a SOA plan without considering open source, organizations have a far less chance of meeting these goals,” says Michelson. “SOAs are becoming increasingly standards based and the open source model inherently encourages the adoption of new standards, which prevents architecture silos later. This in addition to avoiding vendor lock-in and eliminating license fees based on growth makes open source essential for SOA.”

In addition to outlining the open source SOA landscape, Michelson provides rare insight into the process of planning a successful SOA by addressing some its challenges including organizational politics and the real cost of enterprise-wide reuse. These white papers are available for download at http://www.optaros.com/publications_wpapers.shtml

About Optaros Optaros is a consulting and systems integration firm that helps enterprises solve IT business problems by providing services and solutions that maximize the benefits of open source software. Bringing together experts in creating enterprise IT solutions and experts in the power of open source, Optaros plans and builds business systems that give you better value today and increased control in the future. For more about Optaros, go to www.optaros.com