SOAWorld Magazine: As you know, SYS-CON Events recently announced an entire one-day event devoted to Data Services. Do you agree that the time is right for a dedicated event situated at the intersection of databases, data warehousing, business intelligence, enterprise computing and Internet computing – or are we still too early?

David Linthicum: No, this is growing now. The event hits a sweet spot in the marketplace, if you ask me. Data is the primary component of architecture, including SOA. Addressing it specifically just makes sense.

SOAWorld Magazine: With every new approach come new opportunities, what kind of new business opportunities are created with the Data Services approach?

DL: The ability to abstract very complex data stores and leverage data-as-a-service. This has huge advantage when considering building agile architecture that are easier to deal with than the complex and static architectures we see around today. In essence we put the data volatility into a single domain…the data service.

SOAWorld Magazine: It has been said variously that 2008 is the year of Rich Internet Applications, or Virtualization, or of Enterprise Collaboration Tools, etc. What would you pinpoint as the defining technology of the year ahead?

DL: It’s all about the mashup, or at least the notion. RIAs have provided us with the ability to create applications, delivered over the Internet, that appear native. Those applications will need information services, from many sources, to provide core value to the users. We think that Web services on-demand will be the missing piece that will set that world on fire.

SOAWorld Magazine: Will there ever come a time when we witness The End of Middleware?

DL: Perhaps the buzzword, but middleware - the notion - will be with us for a long time. No matter what you call it, we’ll still need layers of intelligent software to deal with the differences between systems.

SOAWorld Magazine: As a newly-appointed CEO, what is the principal advice that would you offer to young technologists about the put a toe in the business water?

DL: Work hard, and have fun. Don’t be afraid to take on challenging tasks, and always be learning. Foremost, fall in love with technology. You got to love what you do to be good at it. I’m surprised people are paying me for this work, I’m having a blast.

The interviewee David Linthicum is giving a keynote at SOAWorld Conference & Expo 2008 East in New York City. Entitled "SOA By the Numbers," this keynote is a must attend for those looking to get SOA right the first time. Linthicum will take the mystery out of SOA requirements, design and implementation, not just by providing hype-driven concepts, but a step-by-step approach for building a SOA that works each and every time, no matter how complex or simplistic the problem domain, business issues, or technology solution.

Register Now and Save ! (Co-located with DataServices World)