Service Oriented Architecture Field Guide for Executives

8.4. SERVICE INTEGRATION MATURITY MODEL

^[]IBM, one of the foremost authorities on SOA, defines the Service Integration Maturity Model (SIMM). SIMM aims to facilitate business flexibility through SOA adoption while minimizing risk. IBM's SIMM is squarely focused on technology maturity and service complexity.

Model Basics

IBM's model involves the gradual application of seven levels of SOA maturity:

Level 1: Silo (data integration). Characterized by brittle, ad-hoc integration solutions that do not adapt well to change.

Level 2: Integrated (application integration). Applications are integrated using proprietary connections and platform-specific technologies as a part of an enterprise application integration (EAI) infrastructure.

Level 3: Componentized (functional integration). Modularization of significant and/or critical applications occurs. Integration efforts are typically based on well-defined interfaces (contract-driven design).

Level 4: Simple services (process integration). Initial seeds of SOA are planted in the form of individual, atomic services.

Level 5: Composite services (supply-chain integration). Value chains are constructed to form a service ecosystem for on-demand interaction among suppliers, consumers, and brokers.

Level 6: Virtualized services (virtual infrastructure). Pervasive decoupling of enterprise resources results in the development of a virtualized service grid. Quality-of-service monitoring and management are also externalized through an event-driven architecture. ...