The Open Group Releases First Edition of 'The SOA Source Book'

New Book by Global IT Standards Leader Addresses Practical Implementations of
SOA for Enterprise Architects

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Open Group, a vendor- and
technology-neutral consortium focused on open standards and global
interoperability within and between enterprises, today announced the immediate
availability of The SOA Source Book, a new book that addresses
service-oriented architecture (SOA) from a perspective of how enterprise
architects can use the service principle to deliver unified business and
technical architectures for their organizations. Written in conjunction with
members of The Open Group's SOA Work Group by Dr. Chris Harding, forum
director of the SOA Work Group, the book approaches SOA from a practical
standpoint, offering a pragmatic approach for creating service-oriented
enterprise architectures.

The SOA Source Book is a direct result of the work coming out of the SOA Work
Group since 2005. It is based on the practical experience that SOA Work Group
participants have had with SOA as enterprise architects 'in the trenches,' and
on the concepts and models abstracted from that experience and developed
through the Work Group's meetings and discussions. Like TOGAF(TM), this book
aspires to provide systemized common-sense. It is a resource that enterprise
architects can put to practical use to help their organizations achieve their
business goals through SOA.

"Although there has been much hype surrounding the concept of SOA within the
IT industry, many of the problems and disillusionments surrounding SOA have
been a direct result of service-orientation not being addressed from an
architectural perspective," said Dr. Chris Harding, forum director, SOA Work
Group, The Open Group. "Service principles are not losing ground within the
realm of IT as many have reported; rather, they are becoming increasingly
important as enterprise architecture evolves to address industry ecosystems
and the advent of cloud computing. Despite much being written to address the
design and programming aspects of SOA, The Open Group is currently one of the
few organizations that addresses the architectural aspects of configuring an
enterprise's business and technical systems to generate direct business
value."

Key themes covered within the book include the following:
-- SOA and Enterprise Architecture
-- How to evaluate SOA features in business terms
-- SOA Reference Materials
-- TOGAF for SOA
-- SOA Governance

The SOA Source Book is available as hardcopy from The Open Group and Van
Haren Publishing and is also available on the web at
http://www.opengroup.org/projects/soa-book/. The hardcopy book retails for
$40 in the U.S., 28 pounds Sterling in the United Kingdom or for euro 29.95 in
Europe.

About the SOA Work Group
The SOA Work Group is a work group of The Open Group's Customer Council and
Supplier Council. Its mission is to develop and foster common understanding
of SOA in order to facilitate alignment between the business and information
technology communities. The Work Group carries out its mission by conducting
a work program to produce definitions, analyses, recommendations, reference
models, and standards to assist business and information technology
professionals within and outside of the Open Group to understand and adopt
SOA. In addition, it produces the SOA Source Book, which is a collection of
source material for use by enterprise architects working with Service-Oriented
Architecture, derived from the work of the project teams. Further information
about The SOA Work Group can be found at
http://www.opengroup.org/projects/soa/.

About The Open Group
The Open Group is a vendor-neutral and technology-neutral consortium, which
drives the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow(TM) that will enable
access to integrated information within and between enterprises based on open
standards and global interoperability. The Open Group works with customers,
suppliers, consortia and other standard bodies. Its role is to capture,
understand and address current and emerging requirements, establish policies
and share best practices; to facilitate interoperability, develop consensus,
and evolve and integrate specifications and open source technologies; to offer
a comprehensive set of services to enhance the operational efficiency of
consortia; and to operate the industry's premier certification service.
Further information on The Open Group can be found at
http://www.opengroup.org.

Note to Editors: Boundaryless Information Flow and TOGAF are trademarks of The
Open Group. All other company, brand and product names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective holders.

SOURCE The Open Group

Bill Bourdon of The Bateman Group, +1-415-602-1491,
opengroup@bateman-group.com