In this blogsite, I’ve been talking a lot about the impending conversion between service-oriented architecture and Web 2.0, which gives us the foundation of Enterprise 2.0.

However, one industry leader appears to be underwhelmed by the “hype” around Web 2.0-SOA convergence, saying it may be “overheated.” Bob Serr, CTO of Parlano, contends that Web 2.0 and SOA are helping to change or streamline the way things are done, but are not yet “earth shattering.” He says that “Web 2.0 might be edging close to this category, but SOA is not there yet.” He makes the following observation:

“Granted, Web 2.0 will change the way we work, interact, and purchase software. We already see this today in applications such as Linked In and Wikipedia. Because of these applications and things like Office 2.0, sure, maybe you could classify Web 2.0 as a disruptive innovation. But what I am missing is the connection between SOA and Web 2.0 and how SOA also, by default, ends up in the disruptive category. I mean, can we really compare SOA’s impact with the introduction of the telephone (one of Christensen’s examples of a disruptive innovation)?”

I agree that the “revolutionary” aspects of SOA are overplayed, and that “evolution” is a better way to describe what’s happening with the technology. “Is SOA disruptive?” Serr asks. “To me SOA is an evolution of concepts that have been around for decades. Software developers have long been figuring out ways to componentize what they build so that they can utilize these components in different ways. The fact that we now access these components through HTTP and Web services is great, and makes programming much easier and more extensible. But is this disruptive over something like the CORBA or RMI or HTTP programs we wrote years ago? …Does this change markets or create new ones? I don’t think so. At least not yet.”

I think Serr may be focusing here too much on the technical weeds and not fully recognizing the ways SOA — as part of Enterprise 2.0 — will stir up disruptions as it becomes a greater part of enterprises. In a recent post over at ZDNet, I explored some of the potential disruptions SOA will create:

Loosely coupled thinking: Ultimately, loosely coupled technology paves the way to loosely coupled businesses. Make way for the loosely coupled business, run on loosely coupled services. Just as businesses are evolving into loosely coupled components, so to are the systems that support them. Many industry analysts predict that the concept of an “application” will be obsolete — rather, our businesses will depend on services that are combined, mixed, matched, mashed and reused as needed. Over the years, there has been a great deal of angst about the viability of the “hollow” corporation, which links processes and services to customers, but produces nothing itself. Thanks to new technologies, what was a linear supply chain is now close to being a synchronous network, affording better visibility and control over processes.

Made to order: Application vendors may begin to look more like “Dells” than “IBMs.” More and more solutions are being built collaboratively, paving the way for the creation of modular, standardized building blocks that can be assembled, on-demand, for specific requirements. Application vendors that play the role of “assemblers” — rather than “creators” — can leverage these components and quickly deliver services or components at reasonable prices will have the upper hand in the market going forward.

Opportunity knocks: SOA provides opportunities for microbusinesses: As applications continue to break down into loosely coupled components, enterprises will rely more on functions provided through Software as a Service model, versus developing and maintaining everything in house. As noted in the two previous items, the “loosely coupled business” or ISV aggregates services on an on-demand basis to meet customer demands. Many, if not all, of such services may be provided from third parties. It is likely, then, that MicroISVs may be the providers of these service-oriented components, perhaps charging on a per-transaction basis. A MicroISV may be an entrepreneur working from a spare bedroom; or it may be a unit of a larger non-IT enterprise as well. Many of today’s enterprises have already evolved into confederations of entrepreneurs and ad-hoc teams on a process level.

Integration, light and simple: Web 2.0 is becoming the “Global SOA.“ ZDNet blogging colleague Dion Hinchcliffe made this observation last year, and as Web 2.0 and SOA converge, we’re seeing this come to pass. This convergence has interesting implications for companies seeking faster and more cost effective ways to integrate their disparate silos of systems and information. As Dion observed: “Live users are still the manual integration point of our systems far too often, and now it’s getting easier and easier for the average person to direct software do the integration automatically.”

SOA will increase outsourcing. SOA will suppress outsourcing. Last July, IT outsourcing company Accenture announced it plans to invest $450 million over the next three years in the development of SOA applications. What do they know? Sure, many companies will pull aspects of development in-house, since SOA can make integration so quick and painless. But SOA also offers major opportunities for outsourcing arrangements. First, busy IT shops — especially those with large enterprise systems — may not have enough human resources to effectively deploy SOAs. Second, infrastructures based on SOA will lower the barrier of entry for outsourcing providers, which will energize the market. Third, the growing standardization and “hot-swappability” of SOA components makes it easier to outsource — perhaps as SaaS — pieces of the IT infrastructure.