SOA filling the Gaps

The analogy between an iceberg and IT domains is a common analogy. It describes an IT domain in which a little part is visible (above the water) and a bigger part is hidden (under the water). This analogy may be useful for describing Enterprise Data. Databases are clearly visible. Some Directories or Libraries as well as some stand alone disk files are also visible. The part behind the water mark is usually unstructured data, such as Web Pages, e-mail messages and attachments. The Iceberg analogy was also used by SOA Software 's CTO Brent Carlson for describing SOA: The actual projects are above the water, but more abstract architectural levels could be ignored because they are not visible. This analogy came to my mind while reading an interesting Oracle White Paper titled: Business Process Management, Service-Oriented Architecture, and Web 2.0: Business Transformation or Train Wreck? The White Paper included an article by Oralce's BPM specialist Jo...