What is Service Oriented Architecture?

A Service Oriented Architecture is essentially a collection of services.

1. These services communicate with each other.
2. Services are software components that carry out business processes.
3. Services have well defined interfaces.
4. A service is the end point of a connection.
5. Services are the interfaces to the business logic.
6. Services are connected to each other with loosely coupled connections

Open Group's definition of SOA -

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that supports service orientation.

Service orientation is a way of thinking in terms of services and service-based development and the outcomes of services.

A service:

• Is a logical representation of a repeatable business activity that has a specified outcome (e.g., check customer credit; provide weather data, consolidate drilling reports)
• Is self-contained
• May be composed of other services
• Is a “black box” to consumers of the service