International Survey of Decision Makers Identifies C-level Sponsors for SOA Vision

Core News Facts:

1. Survey suggests that SOA has come of age, with high level executives leading efforts, planning long-term projects, and committing over $1 million budgets.

2. Survey shows that organizations are aggressively pursuing SOA funding strategies focused on existing business solutions, however struggling with financial justification.

3. While as much as 40 percent of SOA budgets is allocated to software areas such as enterprise service buses, security and data services, the majority of SOA budgets is being spent on SOA skills. For more information, please visit: www.bea.com/services/

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Nov. 21, 2006 — BEA Systems, Inc., a world leader in enterprise infrastructure, today announced the results of a cost and benefits survey of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) decision makers, which found that SOA is quickly evolving from pilot or departmental projects to enterprise-wide initiatives driven by chief information officers (CIOs). Nearly 50 percent of those surveyed have spent over $1 million to date on SOA, explaining why CIOs are increasingly the main sponsors of the strategy.

The survey, sponsored by BEA and conducted by independent research firm GCR Custom Research, also cited IT cost savings as a leading driver in Europe, as opposed to the need for greater business agility as the main driver in North America. Globally, organizations were shown to expect IT cost savings of approximately 20 percent over the first 12 months of SOA adoption. The research also suggested a serious commitment to training and skills development investments to meet the need for SOA expertise within organizations.

“ The research illustrates why there’s been such a substantial movement towards SOA adoption. Organizations are recognizing the long-terms benefits of SOA, and investing accordingly,” said Bruce Graham, senior vice president, worldwide consulting services, BEA Systems. “However, as companies look to expand their SOA investments, they will require better guidance on ROI metrics and planning in order to get the most out of SOA.”

GCR surveyed over 150 decision-makers and influencers implementing SOA strategies in the US, Canada, UK, France and Germany, and focused on a variety of criteria to determine the course, scope, progress and nature of these IT initiatives. The sample included companies with over $1 billion in annualized revenue who have deployed SOA, and hence, had experience justifying SOA. Highlights of the GCR Cost Benefits Survey include:

* Approximately half of SOA budgets are denominated at over $1 million and programs are increasingly characterized as longer-term and wider in scope.

* Fifty-nine percent of SOA funding is coming from business solutions budgets attributed to existing projects, suggesting a strong commitment to translating SOA into business value and results.

* Also interesting is the rise of SOA as its own source of funding (22 percent), showing that SOA as a category is becoming more accepted as mainstream for strategic IT importance.

* More than half of project portfolios are managed over a one year roadmap, and one in three already had enterprise-wide SOA deployments, reinforcing the notion of SOA maturity.

* Mainly driven by Europe, IT cost savings ranked overall as the leading SOA adoption driver, with an expected savings return of approximately 20 percent. Followed by the need for greater business agility, which typically is expected over a longer timeframe.

* While 40 percent of SOA spending is spent on infrastructure – enterprise service buses, security and data services – 54 percent is being allocated to training and new hires, showing that companies are striving to become self sufficient, looking to external skills only where neede

For more information from the GCR SOA Cost Benefit Survey, please visit: bea.com/services.

BEA provides a variety of SOA services and platform offerings designed to successfully guide its customers to adopt SOAs. Among these services offerings is SOA for Executives, a suite of SOA consulting and education services specifically designed to help executives invest in SOA with confidence by tackling top CIO challenges.

SOA for Executives is designed to complement BEA SOA 360º, the industry’s most unified Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) platform designed for business transformation and optimization, in order to improve cost structures and grow new revenue streams. SOA 360º spans the three BEA product families and is built on the company’s native SOA microServices Architecture (mSA), and supported by the newly unveiled SOA collaborative tooling environment, BEA WorkSpace 360º. For more information, please visit: bea.com.

Source : BEA Systems, Inc. 11/21/2006