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The 21st issue of the Architecture Journal will be devoted to SOA Keys for Success.

While Cloud, Utility, and Green Computing trends emerge as probable candidates for the top of the enterprise IT agenda for the next decade, SOA undoubtedly has been the priority during this decade, and particularly during these five last years.

The initial appeal of SOA came when the industry acknowledged how standards such as XML Web Services easily achieved decoupled levels of integration that were unseen on previous, complex attempts such as CORBA or COM.

Then came the SOA rush, and a growing number of companies embarked on SOA projects while Web Services standards continued to evolve in order to close the gap in security, reliable messaging, and transactional integrity.

Some years later, we can confirm that SOA has accomplished its promise of interoperability. But where SOA practitioners probably will disagree is on the total cost of ownership of this kind of project. We might find as many successful stories (on time, on budget, and straightforward) as not-so-successful stories (more expensive than projected, unforeseeable complexity, and so on).

What are the factors that make the difference? We are calling for articles on:

• SOA practices. Which ones determine the success—or failure—of a project?
• SOA governance. Running, monitoring, versioning: How better to serve services?
• To ESB or not to ESB. Angel or demon? When to consider it a fundamental piece? What about it should you get rid of?
• From object to services. Considerations to guarantee separation of concerns after shifting paradigms.
• Enhanced SOA. How alternative, complementary approaches such as Event-Driven Architecture (EDA), REST protocols, service virtualization, and others are helping SOA traverse the last mile of integration.
• SOA and The Cloud. What SaaS, S+S, and related emerging delivery models have to offer to an in-house SOA investment.

If you have ideas on these topics that you would like to share with the architecture community, this is your chance! To submit an idea for an article, please send the following by June 11, 2009:

• An abstract of between two and four paragraphs that explains what the reader will get from your article with regard to the "SOA Keys for Success" theme of the issue. If you like, you may submit on an alternative topic; we have published out-of-theme articles in the past. However, your chances of being selected might be lower.
• A bio of between one and two paragraphs.
• A list of your previously published articles, if any.

Submissions should be made via e-mail to archjrnl@microsoft.com (we receive many submissions for each issue, so we encourage you to put time and thought into your submission).

After the call for articles has ended, everyone who has submitted an idea will be notified via e-mail as to whether their submission was successful or not. If it is accepted, your article must follow this schedule:

• June 17. Acceptance notified.
• July 8. First draft (possibly unfinished) is due.
• July 22. Final draft is due.*
• September 5. Your article and the Journal are ready and published.

* We recommend that articles be between 2,500 and 3,500 words in length. We will ask you to sign a release form that gives Microsoft permission to reprint the article, although ownership of the article will remain with you.

Send us your proposal, or contact us at archjrnl@microsoft.com if you have any questions. Good luck!

Do you accept submissions outside the “call for papers” period?

If you already have an idea for an abstract, we recommend that you wait for the next call before making a submission, subscribing this RSS feed or, better, the Architecture Newsletter.

Will I get paid for writing?

We do not currently pay authors for contributing to the Architecture Journal.

What are the guidelines for papers printed in the Architecture Journal?

We recommend that papers are between 2,500 and 3,500 words in length – although we have accepted shorter and longer papers in the past.  The article should be submitted using Microsoft Word.  Diagrams should be submitted in either Microsoft Visio or Microsoft PowerPoint, and will be reformatted for the magazine.

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