There’s been a lot of talk about what SOA could do for cloud computing, but ZapThink’s Ronald Schmelzer recently flipped the equation, pondering what cloud computing can do for SOA.

Schmelzer’s conclusion: Cloud computing could finally help everyone understand that SOA is not just standards-based integration by taking ESBs out of the equation and pushing companies toward virtualization of services, which in turn will require thinking more abstractly about services:

This brings us to probably the biggest benefit of this whole cloud computing hoopla — a change in the way we think about Services. … for those that have equated SOA with Web Services and ESB, they might see this looming cloud computing movement as the next iteration of their SOA efforts. For these readers, we would say, ‘finally!’

Of course, these things are never simple. Schmelzer’s piece points out all the pros to cloud computing and SOA, but it’s actually part two of a conversation began by Schmelzer’s colleague, Jason Bloomberg. In part I, Bloomberg lists all the problems with cloud computing, paying particular attention to how SOA fits into the equation. Bloomberg writes that, while theoretically virtualization and SOA fit together nicely, in practice, they’re separated by political structure:

Read more at: IT Business Edge