2007 Predictions - SOA Testing is Hot

Testing? Hot? Our ears are burning... We've been in the SOA testing business for a few years, but the day has finally come where SOA testing is the "hot" space, according to industry experts. Are they the ones who need an analyst? Is testing, especially SOA Testing, about to break out of its shell? Check out these posts from the beginning of the year: - ZapThink analyst Jason Bloomberg listed SOA Testing the #1 Prediction for SOA in 2007! For real? “As a result of this heightened awareness of the real challenges in maintaining a SOA implementation, demand for SOA quality and testing solutions will skyrocket in 2007, leading to greater acquisitions, increased consolidation, new venture creation, and boatloads of case studies on the topic. Watch this space for the real action.” - Hurwitz Group 2007 predictions: “Quality and software testing, a longtime stepchild of the software market, will get hot. This will be especially true in the context of ensuring that business services perform the functions they are designed for in a predictable manner.” - At the last ITexpo, Gartner’s Frank Kenney noted that SOA Governance consists of Registry, Policy, and SOA Testing. So, he's saying testing is now a cool term like "governance?" - In fact their trend continued: In Gartner's “Hype Cycle” 2006 for Application Development, SOA Testing was listed as the only “transformational” value change in dev practices. Say what? This is testing we're talking about, not space travel. In reality there will always be a need for software testing. Especially when you are planning to integrate various technologies, via new methods. SOA does represent quite a shift in thinking from the client-server apps or "big-bang" implementations of the last few years. So it stands to reason that most companies will get burned by this new approach until they can get it under control. Companies have made steps toward SOA Governance, by looking at centralized Repositories/Registries for service assets, and Policy tools to dictate the business process in terms of SOA use, but without better SOA Testing, how will you validate and enforce those behaviors at runtime? When complexity and constant change become the norm, a once staid term like testing suddenly becomes exotic. We hope that the days when SOA strategy and a Test strategy aren't two different endeavors are over -- and your teams take Lifecycle Quality to heart when moving toward SOA.