Meeting customer needs

The concept of the Service Oriented Infrastructure (SOI) is not just the result of technological advance; it has been stimulated by the needs of organisations. The modern organisation is seeking to efficiently utilise its information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, while at the same time ensuring that components of the infrastructure can be substituted and augmented dynamically. The 3-layer SOI model is a response to this. The model builds on the service-oriented philosophy, which is already having significant market impact - e.g., through the deployment of Software-as-a-Service. The SOI model also owes its provenance in part to the concept of Grid Computing; an approach to computing which offers performance benefits and the ability to share complementary resources. Today a new concept, that of the virtual hosting environment, is being developed, building both on SOI and grid computing. The goal is to create an environment where ICT infrastructure, delivered as services, can be shared between partners in a virtual organisation, or made available for third parties. The result will be an ICT industry where services are delivered across organisational boundaries, enabling all manner of new business applications, which in turn will themselves be delivered to the end-user as services.