"Many smart and well-meaning people in the information technology industry are searching for ways to understand the impact service oriented architecture (SOA) and master data management (MDM) will have on enterprise IT strategies," writes Frank Cohen (pictured), founder of industry consultancy PushToTest.

Cohen espouses a new approach called "base computing," which he describes as "a methodology and set of patterns to govern development and operation of a set of business processes in a data center. Base Computing is the opposite of Enterprise Applica-tion Integration (EAI) in that Base Computing has no system of record, no central registry of software and services, and no central governance."

He outlines some axioms of base computing:

*Truth comes from assertions. A base is integral to itself, so anything the base says is true is true from the base's perspective.

* All data is master. Bases build trust relationships with consumers by working diligently to deliver the best possible data to the consumer.

* Interfaces and protocols are implicit. The consumer to a base may be a service or a human being operating a consumer application like a Web browser.

* Some functions are just enough. Bases rarely provide 100% of a consumer's needed functions. Instead, Base Computing focuses on providing just enough functions and works hard to make certain those functions are high qual-ity from the consumer's perspective.

More of Frank's thoughts on this topic can be found at www.soanowjournal.com.