"But realizing that the technology has surged ahead of the business model, IBM and partners are still shaping the rules of engagement for composites as they go along." ..... Only in their dreams/wishful thinkings, Tony.

"Later that day, we sat in on another session to explore how IBM is building a composite apps business for that segment (more specifically, for banking, insurance, telco, and healthcare sectors)." If one assumes that they are the present leaders in such sectors, boy, have they and their partners failed catastrophically at the Helm in those.

Memo to Board/Executive Administration ....... Code Red ..... Find New Partners who know what 42 Do. A SAPSOAP asap...... if not sooner.

IBM may be a dinosaur but it has a lot of raptors in flock. SOA is huge and IBM has both the business savvy and the technical people to handle both sides - they have done it through all the changes in business and technology a long time.

SOA is definitely not boring - it's just too big to grasp if you don't have both business and technology background. Time shows - SOA is nothing new except new acronyms, terms, thankfully some new standards, definitions, etc but the idea is old. It was old 30+ years ago, just not formalized.