service oriented architecture Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a flexible set of design principles used during the phases of systems development and integration in computing. A system based on a SOA will package functionality as a suite of interoperable services that can be used within multiple, separate systems from several business domains. SOA also generally provides a way for consumers of services, such as web-based applications, to be aware of available SOA-based services. For example, several disparate departments within a company may develop and deploy SOA services in different implementation languages; their respective clients will benefit from a well understood, well defined interface to access them. XML is commonly used for interfacing with SOA services, though this is not required. (Excerpt from Wikipedia article: Service oriented architecture) 5 9 0.3 11.1 1 11.1 http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/sites/all/datacharts/hc/6809-chart-wp.html