This IDC study reviews worldwide survey findings related to SOA from IDC's Software Developer Network Survey. Topics include associations with SOA; the importance of SOA; current and planned activity involving SOA, Web services, and composite applications; current and estimated future base of applications by architecture type; drivers for and challenges to adopting SOA; and sources of and types of services deployed within current SOA implementations. Our analysis presents overall study results as well as segmentations by type of respondent organization, including user enterprises, software vendors (ISVs), and IT services vendors.

"Organizations and individuals of all types are eager to embark on or expand their involvement in SOA, but much more by way of skills and experience is needed to make this vision into a reality." — Sandra Rogers, program director, SOA, Web Services, and Integration Software, at IDC