SOA coming to NetCents

Service-oriented architecture refers to the development of software capabilities through the integration of loosely coupled, reusable components. Developers draw on these modules, published in a directory, and combine them into packages. A SOA promotes interoperability among systems in addition to the multiplication of capabilities.

SOAs will receive added emphasis under NetCents- 2, said Debra Foster, the Air Force’s NetCents-2 program manager.

A successful SOA implementation should reduce redundancies in the architecture, said Fatma Dandashi, a SOA development leader at Mitre.

“Different services and agencies run systems with similar functional capabilities,” she said. “The first thing is to figure out is which systems provide the same or similar functionality and then identify the best candidate within the enterprise architecture to provide that functionality. The Navy, for example, can reuse functionality from an Air Force system through a published interface and the Navy can stop using and maintaining its own system.”