Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a very popular computing model for distributed applications that should meet certain requirements in terms of reusability, composability, scalability, and performance. All application areas can benefit from this model, and therefore any effort to further develop the SOA concepts and tools is worth considering.
This book is an initiative in this direction. It is a collection of individual contributions that cover SOA. The attribute “advanced” in the title points to the authors’ efforts to contribute to some of the most significant components of this distributed computing model. The service concept is, of course, central. There are many ways to define services, compose services, manage their life cycle, and deliver them to users according to the service-level agreements (SLAs).
Chapter 1 is both a general introduction to these problems and a presentation of PlaTel (platform for information and communications technology (ICT) planning and monitoring solutions), a framework for business processes designed according to the SOA model. While comprehensive, the chapter lacks examples. It is a theoretical approach that might be difficult to read by those not familiar with these topics. For example, there is only a short example of the smart service definition language (SSDL), which is supposed to be the most appropriate definition language for composite services. Such a topic would require a different approach, a totally examples-oriented one where any reader can understand the complexity of the issues and how they can be solved. Otherwise, the chapter structure is fine.
Chapter 2 answers to my comment above by being applicative and full of examples, with a special mention to Section 5, “Composite Services Validation,” which is well placed and written. Chapter 3, “A Platform for Development of Electronic Markets of Sophisticated Business Services,” focuses on the automation of a single business service. It starts by giving details of the service invocation steps, from user query, service provider quotation, agreement, execution, and results delivery. It involves several concepts, such as service manager, service directory, and technologies, including web services description language (WSDL), Extensible Markup Language (XML), and XML schema definition (XSD), that are appropriately presented. A case study of purchasing a large quantity of goods and transporting them to a company store is offered, and this helps the reader to understand the entire model.
In chapter 4, “Application of the Service-Oriented Architecture at the Inter-Organizational Level,” the authors deal with mostly administrative processes (defined as a set of activities) that cross organization domains. Specifically, they are interested in collaboration flexibility and adaptation. Flexibility in administrative organizations is supported by the composable modeling and execution of administrative procedures (CMEAP), while adaptation is provided by protocols. CMEAP models legislation by elementary processes and uses decision rules and domain ontology. The architecture includes the knowledge base, the composition server, and the process server. A positive aspect of this chapter is that about half of it is dedicated to applications, namely in the construction sector. All the collaborative processes are discussed in detail and follow the model discussed by the authors.
Dependability infrastructure for SOA applications is covered in chapter 5. Dependability includes availability, reliability, safety, integrity, and maintainability. After a general introduction, the toolkit reliable SOA platform (ReSP) is presented. It implements mechanisms such as reliable group communication, recovery, replication, and transaction computing. Following this, the dynamic management SOA toolkit (DyMST), which deals with failure detection, security, and autonomic management, is discussed. Both toolkits are then applied to a healthcare integration platform.
Chapter 6 presents SOA adaptive systems. Considering that most business environments are dynamic, application adaptation is a key factor. The starting point for the authors is the SOA solution stack (S3) proposed by IBM, a clear definition of SOA layers. Therefore, adaptive mechanisms can be easily considered and deployed at different layers. Overall, this is an interesting theoretical chapter that ends the book.
Summing up, this is an interesting book that covers all aspects of SOA, some only theoretically, others with good examples. The main weakness is a lack of homogeneity and purpose. Additionally, a term index could help a lot of readers who might find the same topic dealt with differently in different sections. Postgraduate students would probably benefit most from reading this book.
