Reference Model for Service Oriented Architecture 1.0

TLDR

The model builds on SOA concepts, is not tied to specific standards or technologies, focuses on software architecture, and while applicable elsewhere, it does not fully cover non‑software domains. This Reference Model for Service Oriented Architecture is an abstract framework for understanding significant entities and relationships within a service‑oriented environment, and for developing consistent standards or specifications that support that environment. It defines common semantics for entities and relationships that can be used unambiguously across implementations, thereby enabling consistent standards and specifications. Figure 1 illustrates how the Reference Model relates to specific architectures, technologies, and other aspects of SOA.

Abstract

This Reference Model for Service Oriented Architecture is an abstract framework for understanding significant entities and relationships between them within a serviceoriented environment, and for the development of consistent standards or specifications supporting that environment. It is based on unifying concepts of SOA and may be used by architects developing specific oriented architectures or in training and explaining SOA. A reference model is not directly tied to any standards, technologies or other concrete implementation details. It does seek to provide a common semantics that can be used unambiguously across and between different implementations. The relationship between the Reference Model and particular architectures, technologies and other aspects of SOA is illustrated in Figure 1. While service-orientation may be a popular concept found in a broad variety of applications, this reference model focuses on the field of software architecture. The concepts and relationships described may apply to other service environments; however, this specification makes no attempt to completely account for use outside of the software domain.