Not too long ago, IT organizations turned to service-oriented architecture (SOA) primarily as a way to integrate enterprise applications. But now large companies are using SOA to create components that can be combined and reused as services across multiple applications. SOA is spreading throughout the enterprise for business-process alignment, among other things. This makes application updates easier and faster, reduces development time, improves service to customers and partners, and saves money. It's still SOA, just all grown up.
