Product Description

As XML becomes an increasingly significant part of the IT mainstream, expert guidance and common-sense strategies are required to avoid the many pitfalls of applying XML incorrectly or allowing it to be used in an uncontrolled manner. This book acts as a knowledge base for issues relating to integration, and provides clear, concise advice on how to best determine the manner and direction XML technology should be positioned and integrated. The book will be one of the first to provide documentation for second-generation Web services technologies (also known as WS-*). The importance of these specifications (which include BPEL, WS-Transaction, WS-Coordination, WS-Security, WS-Policy, and WS-Reliable Messaging) cannot be understated. Major standards organizations and vendors are supporting and developing these standards. ***David Keogh, Program Manager for Enterprise Frameworks and Tools, Microsoft, will provide a front cover quotation for the book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #181761 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

From the Back Cover

Web services is the integration technology preferred by organizations implementing service-oriented architectures. I would recommend that anybody involved in application development obtain a working knowledge of these technologies, and I'm pleased to recommend Erl's book as a great place to begin.

—Tom Glover, Senior Program Manager, Web Services Standards, IBM Software Group, and Chairman of the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I).

An excellent guide to building and integrating XML and Web services, providing pragmatic recommendations for applying these technologies effectively. The author tackles numerous integration challenges, identifying common mistakes and providing guidance needed to get it right the first time. A valuable resource for understanding and realizing the benefits of service-oriented architecture in the enterprise.

—David Keogh, Program Manager, Visual Studio Enterprise Tools, Microsoft.

Leading-edge IT organizations are currently exploring second generation web service technologies, but introductory material beyond technical specifications is sparse. Erl explains many of these emerging technologies in simple terms, elucidating the difficult concepts with appropriate examples, and demonstrates how they contribute to service-oriented architectures. I highly recommend this book to enterprise architects for their shelves.

—Kevin P. Davis, Ph. D., Software Architect.

Service-oriented integration with less cost and less risk

The emergence of key second-generation Web services standards has positioned service-oriented architecture (SOA) as the foremost platform for contemporary business automation solutions. The integration of SOA principles and technology is empowering organizations to build applications with unprecedented levels of flexibility, agility, and sophistication (while also allowing them to leverage existing legacy environments).

This guide will help you dramatically reduce the risk, complexity, and cost of integrating the many new concepts and technologies introduced by the SOA platform. It brings together the first comprehensive collection of field-proven strategies, guidelines, and best practices for making the transition toward the service-oriented enterprise.

Writing for architects, analysts, managers, and developers, Thomas Erl offers expert advice for making strategic decisions about both immediate and long-term integration issues. Erl addresses a broad spectrum of integration challenges, covering technical and design issues, as well as strategic planning.

• Covers crucial second-generation (WS-*) Web services standards: BPEL4WS, WS-Security, WS-Coordination, WS-Transaction, WS-Policy, WS-ReliableMessaging, and WS-Attachments
• Includes hundreds of individual integration strategies and more than 60 best practices for both XML and Web services technologies
• Includes a complete tutorial on service-oriented design principles for business and technical modeling
• Explores design issues related to a wide variety of service-oriented integration architectures that integrate XML and Web services into legacy and EAI environments
• Provides a clear roadmap for planning a long-term migration toward a standardized service-oriented enterprise

Service-oriented architecture is no longer an exclusive discipline practiced only by expensive consultants. With this book's help, you can plan, architect, and implement your own service-oriented environments-efficiently and cost-effectively.

About the Web Sites

Erl's Service-Oriented Architecture books are supported by two Web sites. http://www.soabooks.com provides a variety of content resources and http://www.soaspecs.com supplies a descriptive portal to referenced specifications.

About the Author

Thomas Erl is the world's top-selling SOA author and the Series Editor of the Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl  http://www.soabooks.com/

His first two books, Service-Oriented Architecture: A Field Guide to Integrating XML and Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design have become international bestsellers and have been formally endorsed by senior members of major software organizations, such as IBM, Sun, and Microsoft. Thomas is also the founder of SOA Systems Inc. http://www.soasystems.com, a company specializing in SOA training and strategic consulting services with a vendor-agnostic focus. Through his work with standards organizations and independent research efforts, Thomas has made significant contributions to the SOA industry, most notably in the areas of service-orientation and SOA methodology. Thomas has had numerous articles and papers published on Web sites and in industry trade magazines, and is a speaker and instructor for private and public events. To learn more, visit http://www.thomaserl.com.

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive and relevant
Erl's book is magnificent. Most software developers and architects will be aware to some degree or another of the hype surrounding Service-Oriented Architectures, but relatively few people will actually be doing it and even the ones who are will be asking themeselves if they are doing it properly. The vast majority of software developers/architects will be asking themselves why and how? Erl answers these questions very comprehensively. Erl compares and contrasts common application and enterprise integration architectures and demonstrates why a SOA approach is a viable alternative. He then provides a series of best practice guides to show you exactly how. This is the first book you should buy to get up to speed in this field. It is technology agnostic and is as relevant to the J2EE community as its is to the .NET community.

Excellent theoretical introduction to SOA
After being hearing all kinds of hype about SOA all over the place, I decided to take a plunge into this apparently new paradigm. I have to say that although I was previously rather fluent with xml and related technologies, Erl's book gave a sufficiently deep insight into such a complex matter. Maybe, being a .Net practitioner, I would have relished some .Net oriented approach, but I have to admit that Erl's neutral approach is much better, allowing you to see the whole picture without marring you with technology details pertaining to a concrete implementation. All in all, an excellent buy and a book you'll sure revisit after having read it, for concepts that may blur with time in your memory. Recommended.
The only thing is that some of the drawings are a bit too obvious, and big, and could have been done away with so the book could be 20 or 30 pages less.

Buying the other soa book by Erl soon.

editor ;-) ?
Obviously on the matter of SOA etc, everybody knows Erl is one of the gurus and this is a dense and interesting book (dense for me because I have no background in this and used it as an intro: in that it is more or less ok).
What I fail to understand is this common mistake by authors who pick up examples in French and make language mistakes (pages 286 and 369 for example). It is surely a minor point but this is ridiculous, can't Prentice-Hall afford a native speaker to review this ?