During my Architect Council, I hear quite a few architects are still very keen to learn about SOA and how to use SOA in their environment. My response is that SOA is not a one size fits all. Microsoft doesn't package SOA as a product like others. It really depends on the enterprise environment. For a start, to learn more about SOA, you can visit this page http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/solutions/soa/overview.mspx

On this page, you can learn about....

· What is Service Oriented Architecture?

· SOA defined

· Why SOA?

· Who does SOA?

· What SOA isn’t

· Before starting a SOA

· What is the SOA life cycle?

· What are the benefits of SOA?

· What are the challenges associated with SOA?

· How can your organization get started with SOA?

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/solutions/soa/overview.mspx

Interesting, there is an Enterprise SOA Application Demo here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E9FB6415-42AA-4A0E-9A7B-6966C9DC17F5&displaylang=en

Discover a SOA solution that uses InfoPath, BizTalk, ASP.NET Web Services, RPG on an AS/400, CICS on a Mainframe, J2EE on WebSphere, Pocket PC, SQL Server, Speech Server, and MOM.

Join Brian Groth and Mark Berman discuss a Service Oriented Architecture solution that uses InfoPath, BizTalk, ASP.NET Web Services, RPG on an AS/400, CICS on a Mainframe, J2EE on WebSphere, Pocket PC, SQL Server, Speech Server, and MOM. See how this solution puts Web Services in front of these applications, using MOM to monitor events and play back Web Services and BizTalk to orchestrate everything together.