To the casual observer, you’d think that the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Grids are going in completely different directions. In fact, the two are more similar than people realize. But to make effective use of the technologies that both SOA and Grid developers and users are employing we need to change the way we think about this components, not as two disparate components, but as a single methodology that can be adapted for both sides and allow cross pollination where necessary. The intro summary reads like this:

Grids and the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) are two systems that appear to be on a collision course. The SOA is a standard for building discrete services, potentially across multiple machines, which can be combined to build an application that reduces integration costs. Most modern grids employ Web services like the SOA, but there is more to merging the two systems than simply employing Web services. You must also adjust the architecture of your grid solution. This article explains the concepts behind SOA and what you should consider when moving your grid applications toward an SOA model.

In Build grid applications based on SOA I take a look at the methodologies and principles that need to be adapted if we are going to use both technology groups to write and develop future, distributed, applications. Here’s some comment and analysis on the article and the convergence of SOA/Grid technology by Greg Nawrocki.