Tying 3 concepts together (cloud, SOA & virtualisation)

Tying these three concepts together is easy, and hopefully clear, when depicted graphically.



Obviously this isn't the only option available, and it is highly simplified, but it works well at a conceptual level.

Cloud Computing vs SOA

I am often asked what is the difference between these architectures or whether Cloud Computing is replacing SOA (Service Oriented Architecture).

Let's remind ourselves:

• Cloud Computing is a deployment architecture that abstracts what we want to do from where it gets done. In addition a cloud is a pool of virtualised resources that ideally offers exceptional scalability.
  
• Service Oriented Architecture is an architectural style at the application architecture or even enterprise architecture level. SOA is fundamentally about building services that when composed deliver a rich application or business process.

These two worlds can and will intersect ... when a service is deployed in a cloud it becomes a cloud service.