Nearly half of UK businesses are pursuing service-oriented architecture (SOA) in their IT infrastructures, according to research published this week from systems integrator Griffiths Waite.

Of the 180 organisations polled in the survey, 47% said they were pursuing SOA. Among those, the most common reason for doing so was improving the flexibility of IT.

Another study into SOA adoption was published from IT services company AppLabs. The survey polled IT professionals from Fortune 500 companies around the world, and identified improved internal IT integration as the key driver for SOA.

When asked whether the rewards of SOA outweigh the risks, 27% of the respondents said they were not aware that there were any risks. However, 35% were not so naïve and indicated that they were concerned about the risks involved with SOA.

According to AppLabs, the complexity of SOA projects demands more stringent testing than many organisations are used to.

“The nature of SOA implementation is extremely complex and traditional approaches to testing are insufficient,” said Graham Smith, head of client engagement for AppLabs Europe. “Risk increases exponentially in an SOA environment and organisations need to ensure they implement the right quality assurance and testing strategies from the outset to ensure their SOA system meets all business objectives and goes live problem free.”

Further reading

Structural hazard SOA has won many converts, but its popularity should not mask the challenges of delivery.

At your service Service-oriented architecture is proving its potency – but only when fully embraced and aligned with the business

Find more stories in the SOA & Development Briefing Room