OASIS this week announced its approval of its Reference Model for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA-RM) 1.0 as an OASIS Standard.SOA-RM provides an abstract framework for understanding the significant entities and relationships within a SOA, OASIS said. The standard enables development of specific reference or concrete architectures using consistent standards. But SOA-RM is not tied any specific Web services standards, technologies or other implementation details; it instead offers common semantics for use across and between implementations. OASIS officials released prepared statements pertaining to the standard.“The approval of the SOA reference model is a significant step forward in enabling increased SOA interoperability and service re-use within and between organizations that adopt SOA,” said William Barnhill, associate at Booz Allen Hamilton and a member of the OASIS Technical Advisory Board. “There are many different definitions of SOA being used in the marketplace today,” said Duane Nickull of Adobe Systems, chair of the OASIS SOA-RM Technical Committee. “By providing a clear, singular point of reference, the SOA-RM enables even those with unique ideas about SOA to describe their work in quantifiable terms that can be commonly understood.” “SOA-RM offers us a much-needed vocabulary for communicating an organization’s services architecture. It delivers a standard reference that will remain relevant as a powerful model, useful across SOA deployments with evolving technologies,” said Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. Technology Industry