SOA Environment Complexity
Heterogeneity is a way of life in today's IT environment. Solutions span multiple hardware and software platforms provided by multiple vendors. These solutions may be geographically distributed and loosely coupled but, at the same time, highly interdependent. The management of these environments therefore must have visibility to the entire infrastructure that drives the application.

Figure 2 represents a somewhat simplified SOA infrastructure, with a typical SOA environment likely having multiples of many of the elements shown earlier. It's included here to help highlight the number and variety of infrastructure elements that a typical transaction would span. Any one of these elements could fail completely or cause a slowdown for a given application or transaction. When this happens, rapid triage is required to quickly identify the failing component and direct corrective resources to that area before a slowdown results in a failure. This reinforces the need for APM solutions that provide visibility to the entire transaction path while highlighting why silo-specific monitoring alone is not sufficient for rapid problem identification and resolution. Talk with anyone who has worked in an environment where every support organization gets a call when a problem is detected or reported and what you will find is that valuable time is lost with finger pointing and passing the buck. The more effective solutions provide the total environment view with a probable cause indicator that helps pinpoint the failing component.

It's Not Just Java
Another variable that comes into play as SOA becomes more mainstream is that .NET has emerged as an enterprise platform for these complex SOA environments. This now means that it's highly likely that a given transaction in its path through the SOA universe will span both J2EE and .NET platforms.

Keep in mind that the discussion is about managing a SOA, not managing parts of a SOA environment depending on which path the transaction takes. Ideally in this cross-platform environment, the enterprise will use the same toolset to monitor and manage the entire infrastructure. Using two different tools depending on the platform, even if they are from the same supplier, is not likely to deliver consistent results. You wouldn't start a road trip in unfamiliar territory by trying to paste together multiple maps using different scales, in different languages, and expect to get to your destination in the fastest time with the fewest roadblocks. Your SOA performance management solution should facilitate using the same language and the same metrics regardless of the platform the transaction path takes.

Evolution and Growth
While SOA is clearly a main street phenomenon today, many organizations are still in various stages of evolution with a broad range of legacy and distributed applications, Web services, and emerging SOAs. As you look at various methodologies and solutions available for APM, a little extra effort looking at the portability and scalability of your APM solution can provide significant payback. You should take into consideration a solution that adds minimum overhead, works in your current environment, and will grow, scale, and adapt as your environment changes. Talented help desk and support staff are difficult to find, train, and retain. APM solutions that provide views that can be used and understood by the novice while supplying valuable detailed information to the technical experts can help maximize your investment in personnel. Likewise solutions that grow with your evolving infrastructure provide consistency in operational practices regardless of where you are on the road to SOA.

Where to From Here?
SOA infrastructures have clearly matured and are at various stages of delivering on the promise of cost savings, efficiency, and business results. The importance of managing the user experience is paramount if your SOA-based business process is to be successful. Managing the user experience includes making sure you understand the user, the business process, and how well you serve that user through the business process. Application Performance Management is one of the three key infrastructure management tools you will need to successfully manage that user experience.