In Service-Oriented Architecture autonomous, loosely-coupled and coarse-grained services with well-defined interfaces provide business functionality and can be discovered and accessed through a supportive infrastructure. This allows internal and external system integration as well as the flexible reuse of application logic through the composition of services. Malte Poppensieker
In Service-Oriented Architecture autonomous, loosely-coupled and coarse-grained services with well-defined interfaces provide business functionality and can be discovered and accessed through a supportive infrastructure. This allows internal and external system integration as well as the flexible reuse of application logic through the composition of services to support an end-to-end business process. Joe McKendrick
A service-oriented architecture is a software architecture that is based on the key concepts of an application front-end, service, service repository, and service bus. Krafzig et al.,
In short, SOA is about loosely coupled systems, message based communication and business process orchestration. As an abstract architectural model, it acts as an indirection between the business and the technology model. Web Services are the preferred implementation technology for loosely coupled and inter-operable systems. Beat Schwegler
The policies, practices, frameworks that enable application functionality to be provided and consumed as sets of services published at a granularity relevant to the service consumer. Services can be invoked, published and discovered, and are abstracted away from the implementation using a single, standards-based form of interface. CBD
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a component model that inter-relates an application's different functional units, called services, through well-defined interfaces and contracts between these services. The interface is defined in a neutral manner that should be independent of the hardware platform, the operating system, and the programming language in which the service is implemented. This allows services, built on a variety of such systems, to interact with each other in a uniform and universal manner. IBM
A service-oriented architecture is a framework for integrating business processes and supporting IT infrastructure as secure, standardized components (services) that can be reused and combined to address changing business priorities. Service Oriented Architecture Compass
SOA is an approach to build distributed systems that deliver application functionality as services to end-user applications or to build other services. IBM
Service Oriented Architecture is a paradigm for organizing and utilizing distributed capabilities that may be under the control of different ownership domains. It provides a uniform means to offer, discover, interact with and use capabilities to produce desired effects consistent with measurable preconditions and expectation. OASIS reference model for Service Oriented Architecture 1.0
A software architecture of services, policies, practices and frameworks in which components can be reused and repurposed rapidly in order to achieve shared and new functionality. It provides a uniform means to offer, discover, interact with and use capabilities to produce desired effects consistent with measurable preconditions and expectations. SOA-RM TC, draft 11
SOA is an architectural paradigm whose goal is to achieve loose coupling among interacting software applications. Applications invoke a series of discrete services in order to perform a certain task. A service is a unit of work done by a service provider to achieve desired end results for a service consumer. Amir Shevat
(Service-Oriented Architecture) Formerly called a "distributed objects" architecture, the SOA term was coined at the turn of the century as Web services were evolving. CORBA and DCOM are examples of earlier SOAs. See CORBA, DCOM and Web services. Answers.com
The SOA abstracts and exposes business functions as services that connect multiple business applications in homogeneous or heterogeneous environments. Oracle Magazine
SOA is a logical way of designing a software system to provide services to either end-user applications or other services distributed in an network through published and discoverable services
Mike P. Papazoglou, Service-Oriented Computing: Concepts, Characteristics and Directions. Proceedings of the Fourth international conference on Web Information Systems Engineering (WISE '03).
A Service Oriented Architecture provides patterns for design, development, deployment and management of a loosely coupled business application infrastructure. In this framework, business functionality is published, discovered, and consumed as part of a business ecosystem of network-aware and reusable technical and business services. Skyware Software