IBM comments on the "Reference Architecture for Service Oriented Architecture Version 1.0, Public Review Draft 1, 23 April 2008"

[michael.poulin@uk.fid-intl.com]

If the message below is not a joke, please, accept my congratulations!
It looks the Draft has got the right position.

It is a pity that IBM does not support it but this is expectable from all vendors who have their own RA. 

The power of OASIS SOA RA is in its vendor agnostic manner. Any one with specific technology promotions who try to "dress" into OASIS SOA RA will demonstrate their promotion ears... they know this.

-	Michael 

---- Original Message ----
From: Dave Ings <ings@ca.ibm.com>
To: soa-rm-comment@lists.oasis-open.org
Sent: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 10:39:52 PM
Subject: [soa-rm-comment] IBM comments on the "Reference Architecture for Service Oriented Architecture Version 1.0, Public Review Draft 1, 23 April 2008"

Hi, on behalf of IBM I'm submitting the following comment:

IBM believes that it is not a good idea to try to formally standardize one
reference architecture. The main reason for this is that there are multiple
reference architectures and it is not practical or useful to single out one
of them for special treatment. Standards should be stable, codified methods
and/or interfaces - reference architectures are more guidance or patterns
describing best practices for implementations where evolution is expected.

The document acknowledges this point of view when it states "the current
document describes one possible template". Furthermore the document
observes that "it is especially difficult to ... test(s) for conformance to
the architecture" - an important element of a formal specification.

IBM suggests that rather than publishing it as an OASIS standard, this
document should be evolved as a best practice primer or equivalent
document, aimed at assisting people who are trying to create reference
architectures for particular use cases. Viewed in this way, the document
can help people by making them aware of the areas that they need to
address, without being prescriptive. IBM is prepared to assist in evolving
the document in this direction.

Regards, Dave Ings,
Manager, Emerging Software Standards
Email: ings@ca.ibm.com
Yahoo Messenger: dave_ings