Review By: Jennifer Flamm
08/06/2010David Linthicum's book is an excellent guide for anyone who is considering a transition to service-oriented architecture (SOA) and cloud computing. Following a step-by-step process, the book should be read sequentially as it covers:

1. Understanding SOA
2. Evaluating the business case
3. Defining and developing strategies for adapting cloud computing and SOA
   to meet your needs

Linthicum intended the chapters to be short and concise, which means that each chapter provides a lot of information condensed into a few pages. A casual reader might need to really focus in order to avoid missing any key points.

Although SOA is the "it" technology of the moment, I was pleasantly surprised by how Linthicum presents both the exciting parts of the technology coupled with the business realities of implementation. This made me more confident that he put the wisdom of his experience into his book. For instance, he writes "Those who are successful with any systemic architecture change take into consideration the people and cultural issues." This is an issue that I encountered with new changes in my work. In addition, chapter four is focused entirely on the business case, net costs with conversion, risks, and net value to the business. The strong focus on business issues is often missing from many technology books.

The first three chapters include plenty of buzzwords commonly used in conjunction with SOA which establish a foundation for discussion in later sections. Chapter one is a great overview for anyone who is starting out and developing a better grasp and understanding of the technology. I really enjoyed the diagrams in this section as they perfectly complement the description of a SOA model and how applications can fit in as a service.

While at times the book feels like a sales pitch for converting to SOA, Linthicum occasionally balances this out with the drawbacks and points to consider in a SOA conversion, such as in chapters two and ten.

Chapters five through nine begin a case study and incremental steps for determining how to make a conversion. For the data, services, processes, governance, and testing, Linthicum covers the basics, the associated issues, and explains why each is important. Then, chapter ten examines how to apply your knowledge of your application to determine whether SOA and cloud computing are a good fit. I think these chapters are vital for anyone who wants to consider a transition to SOA and cloud computing.

The final chapters conclude with "Making the Move" and looking towards the future. Some of the common themes throughout the book are incremental steps towards gradual improvements, leveraging various approaches, planning, and low coupling. Finally, Linthicum really emphasizes the importance of basing actions on requirements and not technology popularity because the business objectives are paramount.