SOAP->WS*->SOA->SCA, SDO and ESB. Anyone need a REST?

There is an increasing (inevitable?) layering of standards to facilitate Enterprise software integration.

In case you can't quite keep track, and frankly who can outside this rarified world, Service Orientated Architectures (SOA) - last years essential resume buzz word - has now settled in nicely and become the platform for new enterprise integration frameworks: Service Component Architecture (SCA), Service Data Objects (SDO) and Enterprise Service Buses (ESB).

Now, enterprise integration is hard, and the development of these layers on layers is somewhat inevitable, and if you've been around the block enough times you'll recognize the pattern - CORBA or DCOM anyone? - as we shift technology bases.

To many developers, the burgeoning complexity leads to a reaction back to simpler solutions like REST and Ruby on Rails, although these really don't address the needs of enterprise integration.

So in a sense dismayed at the complexity of the SOA/ECA/SDO and ESB worlds, and there is concern that it is too easy to use them to prop up over-complex architectures and so increase the risk of failed projects, I think that they are necessary. A necessary evil perhaps?

So, I disagree with Dave Chappelle when he says that Microsoft shouldn't support SCA. If they don't someone will support a .NET binding to SCA, and perhaps Microsoft are content to leave that to 3rd parties while they pursue a Windows Communication Framework (WCF) centered world view. Perhaps I misunderstand his point that as C# binding would not be portable, but since SCA endpoints are in the end Web Services, I don't see how that can be true.

I also disagree with Steve Vinoski's opinion that REST + dynamic languages is the only way to go, although I can understand that perhaps he is allergic to these things after being one of the major CORBA advocates and developers in the past. For me, REST and dynamic languages are great but are designed for much more loosely coupled systems than most large enterprise integration projects.