We have the interesting results of two different SOA polls for you this week, each of which sheds light on the way that SOA technology is being implemented in the enterprise.

First, we asked readers if they were depending on smaller, best-of-breed players for their Web services/SOA technologies, or if they were holding out until larger vendors solidified their positions. You told us that most of you (56 percent) have gone with the smaller vendors, as opposed to 44 percent of you, who are waiting for the larger vendors to get their acts together (which in many cases involves swallowing the smaller players whole and incorporating their technologies into established product lines).A semi-related issue involved a poll we implemented about the Web Services Interoperability (WS-I) organization. The WS-I is an open industry organization chartered to promote Web services interoperability across platforms, operating systems and programming languages. When asked how important the work of the WS-I is to the SOA community, 75 percent of respondents either said "important" or "very important."

I have to agree: the work of the WS-I is very important. The organization's diverse community of Web services leaders helps customers to develop interoperable Web services by providing guidance, recommended practices, and supporting resources. Specifically, WS-I creates, promotes and supports generic protocols for the interoperable exchange of messages between Web services. In this context, "generic protocols" are protocols that are independent of any action indicated by a message, other than those actions necessary for its secure, reliable and efficient delivery, and "interoperable" means suitable for multiple operating systems and multiple programming languages. Without the WS-I, the proliferation of Web services standards would make it impossible for enterprises to comfortably implement applications built on those emerging standards.

This week we also had an in-depth feature on Amazon Web Services (AWS) 4.0. More and more companies are turning to the Web as a viable way to sell products and expand their customer base. However, e-commerce solutions, as they are commonly called, are not always as easy to implement as it may first appear. Many businesses find that they simply don't have anyone on staff with enough high-tech skills to create an enterprise-scale Web site that can manage a large inventory, support shopping carts, maintain payment information for large numbers of customers, and conduct secure financial transactions. Enter AWS 4.0, which provides a well-documented API that can be accessed remotely via the Internet so that third-party companies can utilize Amazon's e-commerce services without having to create equivalent technologies themselves. Our chief SOA reviewer, Shane Turner, takes a comprehensive look at AWS 4.0, and gives you the tips and techniques you need to know to take advantage of it, as well as links to valuable resources. Check it out.

Finally, we have a special feature that looks at how mixing SOA with business process outsourcing can result in utter chaos. Interested in hearing about what's at stake as both SOA and outsourcing increase in popularity? Read on.

That's all for this week. As always, let me know what you think of these articles, or anything else we've posted on SOA Pipeline.