WASHINGTON, D.C., September 25, 2006 – The Merlin Federal SOA Coalition, a consortium of leading Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) solution providers, today announced the results of its “SOA What? – Who and What is Driving SOA Adoption in the Federal Government?” study. Based on a survey of 196 Information Technology (IT) decision makers in the Federal government, the study reveals that Federal agencies implement SOA to level information silos and achieve new operating efficiencies. Agencies exhibit strong SOA awareness and support for implementations, but report mixed success to date. Department of Defense (DoD) and civilian agencies report the same business drivers, but different barriers to implementation.

Ranking business drivers for SOA implementation in the Federal government, 52 percent of respondents cite the ability to integrate disparate systems as the primary reason for implementing a SOA, 42 percent cite the requirement for greater inter-agency cooperation, and 38 percent cite the requirement for increased agency agility. Comparing Federal civilian and DoD responses concerning the challenges inhibiting government-wide SOA adoption, 21 percent of civilian respondents cite lack of SOA knowledge among IT staff as the greatest challenge, where 28 percent of DoD respondents cite inter-agency ownership/turf battles as the number-one challenge.

Indicators point to the fact that Federal IT professionals overwhelmingly support the SOA concept with 56 percent reporting they believe their agency would benefit from a SOA. Among those who have experienced a SOA implementation, 73 percent would recommend other agencies follow suit and adopt a SOA approach. Forty-nine percent of respondents have heard of SOA. That said, when quizzed, 70 percent of those aware of SOA chose the correct definition and business value proposition. Seventeen percent of respondents note SOA implementation experience at their agency – 11 percent have completed the process while 62 percent of projects are currently in design, planning, and deployment phases. Against this backdrop, only 22 percent note participating in a successful implementation that met the project’s identified goals – 78 percent note partial or no success.

“With the majority of SOA projects currently in the planning and production phases, it is clear that SOA is a technology on the rise in the Federal government,” said John Trauth, executive vice president of Federal government systems at Merlin International. “The study set out to understand what business requirements are driving SOA deployments in the Federal government, what challenges are inhibiting its growth, and importantly, how the market feels about this new computing approach.

The Merlin Federal SOA Coalition is focused on empowering government agencies with new insights as well as education and training on how to optimize SOA deployments – ensuring Federal SOA projects deliver against established goals.” The Merlin Federal SOA Coalition consists of Active Endpoints, AmberPoint, BEA Systems, Merlin International, Reactivity, and Systinet. The survey, conducted in July 2006, quizzed 196 IT professionals from the Federal government, resulting in a margin of error of approximately +/-5.8 percent with a confidence level of 90 percent. 54 percent of respondents identified themselves as employees, 14 percent as supervisors, and 26 percent as managers. Senior executives and political appointees rounded out the sample population. To complete the survey, respondents completed a 20-question survey online. The study is available to download at www.merlin-intl.com/SOAstudy.asp.

About the Merlin Federal SOA Coalition
The Merlin Federal SOA Coalition is a consortium of leading SOA solution providers committed to bringing insightful and timely market intelligence and best practices information to the Federal IT marketplace. Through research, education, and training the coalition works to empower government agencies to optimize their SOA deployments. Founding members of the Merlin Federal SOA Coalition include: Active Endpoints, AmberPoint, BEA Systems, Merlin International, Reactivity, and Systinet.

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