As data integration tools produce and consume information, a service-oriented
architecture presents opportunities for information exchange, data-driven
process automation, and business agility.
Web services proponents like to rhapsodize about a somewhat quixotic world in
which Web services orchestrates disparate components of the enterprise in a
seamless, real-time symphony. There's genuine promise in that vision. But as
any IT professional worth his or her salt knows, the devil is in the details.
When you begin to look under the Web services hood, it's clear that certain
crucial distinctions tend to get lost amid the froth.
In this article, we'll drill down into one of the most compelling
propositions offered by Web services - as an enabler of data-level
integration. Then we'll explore how Web services plays with data integration
to better support real-time informa... (more)