SOA adoption growing in Western European sectors

MILAN, ITALY: According to a recent IDC study, there is a growing interest in SOA adoption across Western European sectors. While adoption status and plans vary from industry to industry, banking, telecoms, and government are the top 3 three sectors to watch. Nevertheless, information around SOA adoption in Western Europe is often fragmented and it might become difficult to get a clear vision of where the real SOA opportunities are.

"From our survey it appears clear that the SOA market is continuing to evolve as a wider range of industries are in the process of deploying this architectural approach. This means that there are new opportunities for IT vendors operating in the SOA sphere," said Angela Vacca, consulting manager, European Vertical Markets.

Survey results show that SOA understanding still appears to be quite low, with over half of the interviewed companies not familiar with this technology. However, IDC survey data confirms a growing interest in this technology.

In the banking industry, 25 percent of the respondents have an SOA solution that they are currently maintaining, 21 percent are currently developing SOA, and 27 percent have plans for the next 24 months.

The telecoms industry is among the most IT-intensive areas and telecoms companies usually lead the way in the use of innovative technologies. In SOA adoption the telecoms/media/transport/utilities sector is the fourth vertical in terms of current adoption and the second (after banking) in terms of short-term investment plans.

Meanwhile, government organization data shows that 18 percent of respondents have an SOA solution that they are maintaining, 8 percent are currently developing SOA, and a very healthy 26 percent of organizations have plans to invest in the next two years.

The survey shows that the main reason given for the adoption of SOA is improvement in the quality of IT systems (26 percent), while a similar percentage of respondents adopt SOA to lower IT operation costs.

IDC believes that understanding the business drivers currently drawing companies towards SOA is the best way to position on the Western European competitive arena for SOA IT vendors.