Special report: Ten key steps can get you from a business promise to an SOA replete with service orchestration that can even enable you to create composite applications — and those actions are broken down and explained in SOA in theory and practice. The package also contains several case studies on making service-oriented architectures work including a look at what British American Tobacco, Sabre and Verizon have pulled off. The news beat: In a coming-of-age party for SQL Server and Visual Studio 2005, today is the day when Microsoft officially unveils SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005, the latest iterations of its database and toolbox, respectively. SQL Server 2005 brings improved scalability, while the new version of Visual Studio is broader in scope than its predecessors. BEA Systems, meanwhile, introduces Workshop 3.0, which it refers to as a “blended environment” of commercial frameworks and execution environments that also supports major open source initiatives through the technology BEA obtained when it bought M7. Columnists’ Corner: Neil McAllister explains how vendors that incorporate open source into their products can procure insurance against lawsuits alleging violations of the Gnu GPL, in Developing with open source, risk-free. Security: McAfee says it expects to release an initial beta version of its end-point security software for desktops and notebooks next week. Good Technology, through an optional add-on, will allow IT to control five key facets of security wirelessly. And a DRM patch from Sony could crash Windows during installation. Technology Industry