IDC looks forward to challenges and opportunities

Service-oriented architectures (SOAs) will have a "profound impact" on the overall services market, as their implementation often requires spending on a range of external services, research predicted today.

These services include consulting and systems integration, and eventually outsourcing, application management, support and training, according to IDC.

The analyst firm forecasts worldwide spending on SOA-based external services to reach $8.6bn in 2006, a 138 per cent increase from $3.6bn in 2005, and that global SOA-based services spending will reach $33.8bn by 2010.

"There is no question that SOA will offer a tremendous opportunity for service vendors in the coming years," said Marianne Hedin, SOA programme manager at IDC.
"Service providers need to gain broader and deeper skills in the area of SOA, and position themselves to be actively involved with clients throughout their long SOA journey, which can take many years."

Systems integration will continue to represent the best market opportunity for service providers throughout the five-year forecast period, the study predicts.

In addition, a recent IDC poll of end users revealed that transportation/distribution, utilities, manufacturing, services and financials are the major adopters of SOA in the US.

The Americas are expected host the majority of external services spending on SOA, with the US leading the market and EMEA representing the second largest region in terms of spending.

However, Asia/Pacific is expected to experience a more rapid growth rate than both the Americas and EMEA, mainly due to its current small base level.