"In this book, David Linthicum does that rarest of things: he manages to combine showing why SOA and Cloud Computing complement one another with a lucid game plan of how a business can take advantage of the synergies between them in concrete ways that will contribute to the bottom line." -Jeremy Geelan Conference Chair, Cloud Computing Conference and Expo series Sr. VP, SYS-CON Media and Events Massive, disruptive change is coming to IT as Software as a Service (SaaS), SOA, mashups, Web 2.0, and cloud computing truly come of age. Now, one of the world's leading IT innovators explains what it all means-coherently, thoroughly, and authoritatively. Writing for IT executives, architects, and developers alike, world-renowned expert David S. Linthicum explains why the days of managing IT organizations as private fortresses will rapidly disappear as IT inevitably becomes a global community. He demonstrates how to run IT when critical elements of customer, product, and business data and processes extend far beyond the firewall-and how to use all that information to deliver real-time answers about everything from an individual customer's credit to the location of a specific cargo container. Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise offers a clear-eyed assessment of the challenges associated with this new world-and offers a step-by-step program for getting there with maximum return on investment and minimum risk. Using multiple examples, Linthicum: * Reviews the powerful cost, value, and risk-related drivers behind the move to cloud computing-and explains why the shift will accelerate * Explains the technical underpinnings, supporting technologies, and best-practice methods you'll need to make the transition * Helps you objectively assess the promise of SaaS, Web 2.0 , and SOA for your organization, quantify value, and make the business case * Walks you through evaluating your existing IT infrastructure and finding your most cost-effective, safest path to the "cloud" * Shows how to choose the right candidate data, services, and processes for your cloud computing initiatives * Guides you through building disruptive infrastructure and next-generation process platforms * Helps you bring effective, high-value governance to the clouds If you're ready to begin driving real competitive advantage from cloud computing, this book is the start-to-finish roadmap you need to make it happen.