Enterprise system professionals have realized that service oriented architectures (SOA) can dramatically increase the complexity of building and maintaining corporate business processes. To achieve maximum benefit from SOAs, it's important to carefully consider architecture and design principles before picking technology and working on practical examples. In a well-designed system, SOA appliances can greatly reduce cost while simplifying implementation and ongoing maintenance. Appliances can also help insulate companies from the inevitable changes common to any software system by minimizing support activities.  Read full article