SOA has not failed, Adobe's Enterprise Software successes

Recently I have seen more than a few people jump on the "SOA has failed" bandwagon. My perception is different. I have actually seen many platforms that adopted the core principles of SOA, as defined by the OASIS Reference Model for SOA, flourish and owners reap large rewards.

Adobe's own platforms are a primary example of this. Having recently written about the differences in patterns of SOA vs REST within the Flash Platform, I now feel compelled to point out that SOA is far from dead. In fact, I received an internal email today within Adobe that clarifies this point. The email outlined the percentages of the top companies that are using Adobe LiveCycle ES or other Adobe enterprise software. This was published in last week’s Adobe internal business intelligence website and while I cannot divulge the raw data sources, I believe this to be accurate.

Fact: Over 27,000 Companies use Adobe Enterprise products (Connect, Flash Builder, LiveCycle).

Fact: These products embrace the concept of services to enable consumers to gain access to blocks of functionality encapsulated within the software. Acrobat Connect is even deployed using the Software as a Service (SaaS) model.

All Industries
22 of the top 25 global companies, as measured by Forbes, use Adobe Enterprise products.
23 of the top 25 U.S. companies, as measured by Fortune, use Adobe Enterprise products.
23 of the top 25 European companies, as measured by Forbes, use Adobe Enterprise products.

Banking Industry
7 of the top 10 global Banks use Adobe to deliver better customer experiences.
16 of the top 20 U.S. Banks use Adobe to deliver better customer experiences.
23 of the top 25 global Banking companies, as measured by Forbes, use Adobe Enterprise products.
20 of the top 20 U.S. Banking companies, as measured by Fortune, use Adobe Enterprise products.
10 of the top 10 European Banking companies, as measured by Forbes, use Adobe Enterprise products.

Insurance Industry
24 of the top 25 global Insurance companies, as measured by Forbes, use Adobe Enterprise products.
7 of the top 10 U.S. Insurance companies, as measured by Fortune, use Adobe Enterprise products.

This does not sound like SOA is failing to me. In fact, far from it. Services will be around for a long time in the future. Why? The concept of services is durable. It will be relevant over many generations of the same technology and it will also be a form of architecture practiced in new technologies.

One of my friends recently stated that "SOA is dead" then followed it up with "long live services". This caused my brain to spin a bit. If an architecture has services, wouldn't that make the architecture ipso facto service oriented? Perhaps I missed something?

If you are new to LiveCycle ES and want to get up to speed, do not overlook the benefits of coming to Adobe MAX 2010. Be warned however that space is filling up fast.

Final synopsis: SOA is not dead. Services will continue to be the dominant action boundary between capabilities and consumers of those capabilities who may be from disparate domains of ownership.

Long live SOA!!!

Livecycle@MAX 2010 - Pick of the Week!

What can I say? There are so many quality Livecycle ES sessions at MAX this year that it makes it hard to pick a new candidate each week to highlight. Nevertheless, after much investigation, here is the one I want to promote.

Advanced Dynamic Form Design

Join author J.P. Terry for a hands-on lab covering advanced form design techniques and his latest tips and tricks. For instance, you'll learn how to add an auto-completion feature to a PDF form that provides relevant suggestions as the user types into the form. See other advanced techniques that make form completion much easier and more accurate. The techniques will be taught within the context of the Institutional Investor case study from Terry's book “Paperless: Real-World Solutions with Adobe Technology.”

Tracks:	Design, Develop
Audience:	Web Designer, Web Developer, Application Developer
Skill Level:	Advanced
Speaker:	J.P. Terry
Product:	LiveCycle ES
Times:	Monday, October, 25th, 12:45 pm - 2:15 pm Tuesday, October, 26th, 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Note that this is an advanced level session. I want to attend this myself and get the tips right from J.P. Just to let you know who he is, J.P. Terry is the CEO of SmartDoc Technologies, a leading consulting firm in the field of intelligent document solutions with offices in NY, NJ, and Beijing, China. SmartDoc specializes in LiveCycle and has developed paperless solutions for Fidelity Investments, Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup. J.P. often writes and speaks about dynamic PDF and is the author of “Creating Dynamic Forms with Adobe LiveCycle Designer” (Adobe Press, 2007) and “Paperless: Real-World Solutions with Adobe Technology” (Adobe Press, 2010). Prior to SmartDoc Technologies, J.P. founded BrandWizard Technologies, a division of Omnicom (OMC), and was the CEO of BrandWizard from 2000 until 2005.

Remember, Livecycle@MAX also sold out early last year. Register now if you are going so you don't have to wait another year. I'm going to be there the whole week.

See you!