Though most U.S. companies still list customer and other corporate information as their most valuable assets, many keep pushing this data farther from safe lockdown in the data center--and are about to give it another strong shove in that direction.
IT budgets generally follow a fairly strict and predetermined process throughout the fiscal year. Managers are well aware of the fierce competition between the contending interests of IT. Service-oriented architecture (SOA), with its promise of reuse and interoperability across the enterprise, is often an easy candidate for funding. That's true all the more now, as successful examples exist and executives become aware of SOA benefits. We're past the hype and into the real world.
SOA discussions regularly focus on concepts, ideals, scale and grand design. These won't get you to the goal.