INTRODUCTION
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is quickly emerging as the next innovation within the IT marketplace that is being widely adopted by organizations. Both vendors and customers are lining up to become SOA-enabled. Vendors such as IBM, SAP, Oracle, HP, and Microsoft see the enormous potential of SOA and are rushing to become active in the SOA market space. Customers don't want to get left behind and hence are clamoring for information about what they need to do to get ready for SOA.