Software AG: The cloud's a good place for SOA

Companies keen to take advantage of cloud computing should select applications built specifically for the cloud, according to a senior executive from Software AG, who added that cloud services can be easily integrated into a service-oriented architecture.

Peter Kurpick, chief product officer at the German software vendor, told ZDNet Asia in an interview that cloud applications, such as those offered by Salesforce.com, are made available to the service-oriented architecture (SOA) by exposing services through APIs (application programming interfaces). This is no different from traditional, large software deployments from vendors such as Oracle and SAP, Kurpick said.

"In fact, services coming from the cloud are more easily integrated into the SOA layer [because] they were designed from day one to be delivered as services," he said.

SOA is a methodology that uses open standards, such as web services, to enable companies to build IT infrastructures "as a collection of services", so they can be more flexible and responsive to changing business needs. In cloud computing, applications and services, including data storage, are hosted and delivered via the web.

Kurpick said users interested in utilising the cloud should pick applications that were "made for the cloud". Traditional applications that are merely "hosted" and not built to be "truly on the cloud", should not be used, he said.

Deploying a hosted application simply involves moving its resident location out of the company's premises, he explained, noting that the user is still restricted to the same challenges regarding scalability.

"If you want to add users suddenly to your hosted app, you would have to do this the same way as if the application was in your back end — you have to get another server," Kurpick said. "It is not instant."

"True cloud applications", in comparison, provide instant and seamless elasticity, allowing companies to be more adaptable to unexpected spikes in user needs, he said. Companies also do not need to manage the architecture to support these applications, he added.

Nonetheless, Kurpick does not see cloud computing as a significant source of disruption for Software AG's business, which focuses strongly on SOA. He said current offerings on the cloud remain "niche" and are "singular" applications, such as Salesforce.com's CRM (customer-relationship management) product, so they will not change the SOA industry as yet.

Revenues in the cloud
While some companies look to the cloud for scalable applications, the same platform can pave the way for others to enter the market — albeit a challenging one — as providers of cloud-based applications.

Miko Matsumura, Software AG's vice president and deputy chief technology officer, said companies may be able to gain new revenue from the cloud in addition to saving on costs.

SOA, which Matsumura described as a way for companies to construct a "patchwork" of a heterogeneous architecture, is also a way for providers to expose their services in the cloud.

The provider can then identify services, within its patchwork offering, that need scalability and offer these on the cloud so they are delivered more robustly for end users, he said.

However, he noted that companies should not hop aboard the cloud bandwagon simply because it is now on the upward curve of its hype cycle.

Companies that take a pragmatic approach to what the cloud can offer will benefit from its uses, said Matsumura.