On Monday, the Open Group conference began in San Diego, California, focusing on major technology issues, such as cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, cloud computing and service-oriented architecture. Furthermore, one main theme linking all of these sections is the idea of interoperability.

While many are confused about what interoperability actually means, the panelists at Monday's discussion named several characteristics - systems with different owners and governance models working together, exchanging and understanding data automatically and forming an information-sharing environment where data is available to all.

One discussion focused exclusively on SOA, which found it to be a positive force for interoperability. When an organization implements SOA, it is able to "define its data model and service interfaces and tender for competing solutions that confirm to its interfaces and meet its requirements," a ZDNet article explains.

Cloud computing also supports SOA in relation to interoperability. "Shared services can be available on the cloud, and the ease of provisioning services in a cloud environment speeds up the competitive tendering process," the ZDNet article states.

While these experts debated SOA's ability to promote interoperability, many current companies and sectors have begun implementing the architecture. In fact, the U.S. Air Force recently contracted Northrop Grumman to implement an SOA system for its command and control functions.
 

Extract:

On Monday, the Open Group conference began in San Diego, California, focusing on major technology issues.