Looks like there's a need something better for SOA....
n. In computing, a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a flexible set of design principles used during the phases of systems development and integration. A deployed SOA-based architecture will provide a loosely-integrated suite of services that can be used within multiple business domains.
SOA also generally provides a way for consumers of services, such as web-based applications,
to be aware of available SOA-based services. For example, several disparate departments within a company may develop and
deploy SOA services in different implementation languages; their respective clients will benefit from a well understood, well defined interface to access them.
XML is commonly used for
interfacing with SOA services, though this is not required.
Service-orientation requires loose
coupling of services with operating systems, and other technologies that underlie applications. SOA separates functions into distinct units, or services, which developers make accessible over a network in order to allow users to combine and
reuse them in the production of applications. These services and their corresponding consumers communicate with each other by passing data in a well-defined, shared format, or by
coordinating an activity between two or more services.
Example:
SOA
developers associate individual SOA objects by using
orchestration. In the process of orchestration the developer associates software
functionality (the services) in a non-hierarchical arrangement using a software tool that contains a complete list of all available services, their characteristics, and the means to build an application utilizing these sources.