Service Oriented Archictecure - The City Metaphor

In this article on MSDN, Pat Helland provides an interesting metaphor "for the evolution of information technology into the world of service-oriented architectures".

In it he compares the evolution of cities and the real-world systems that exist within them (transport, manufacturing, etc) with that of SOA, in the process providing a pretty good introduction to the subject. From the summary:

Explores the idea that information technology is evolving in a fashion similar to how American cities have evolved over the last two centuries. The opportunities and pressures of the technological revolution have driven our metropolises to adopt new frameworks, models, and patterns for commerce and communication. Recent developments in IT are analogous. What can we learn about the present and future directions of IT by studying the recent history of our urban centers.

Well worth 10 minutes of your time to read.

The full article can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnmaj/html/aj2metrop.asp.