Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Description

Service Oriented Architecture is an evolution of distributed computing and modular programming for enterprise business systems allowing applications to be constructed as software services. These services are relatively small, independent units of functionality that when assembled together form applications.

These services don’t use calls to invoke other services; instead, they use protocols to talk to each other. SOA service development is done by a business process expert, who links and sequence services, a process known as orchestration, to meet a new or existing business system requirement. An SOA groups software components together as loose couplings, facilitating integration and reuse with higher-level enterprise business processes.

Well-designed SDPs are designed to allow the seamless integration of communication capabilities into a broader SOA enterprise systems integration strategy. Communication features and capabilities running on an SDP are exposed as software objects in an SOA that are managed and integrated in a similar way with software objects from other non-telecom enterprise systems. Support for presence, mobility, billing/accounting functions, and IP audio and video media processing functionality in media servers are just some of the features of the SDP that can be integrated in a higher-level business process using SOA.

One example of how these systems might work together is an integrated IP Contact Center. Voice and data contact centers used to be disparate functions and systems in the traditional enterprise, but early Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) efforts and the more recent move to VoIP technologies have led to increasingly integrated IP Contact Center solutions. SDP-based solutions can seamlessly support voice, fax, e-mail, instant messaging, Web, and increasing video communication features. Using SOA, these varied communication capabilities can be seamlessly integrated with backend Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems into the overall customer relationship business processes. As a result, integrated IP Contact Centers can field queries from a variety of sources and respond in a variety of ways, which can result in increased customer satisfaction, while improving productivity and competitive advantage for the enterprise.

More Information on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)

White Paper - IP Media Servers for Enterprise Communications
This white paper provides an overview of the role of IP Media Servers in enterprise communication systems, with a focus on issues that are important to Fortune 1000 CIOs, CTOs and IT managers, as well as to vendors that are designing next-generation voice and video solutions for the enterprise market.
Enterprise Voice Services
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