http://www.soamag.com The SOA Magazine is a monthly online publication provided by SOA Systems Inc. and Prentice Hall/PearsonPTR and is officially associated with the "Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl." SOA en-us Copyright 2008, SOA Systems Inc. http://www.soamag.com/I25/0109-4.asp There are different ways of versioning service contracts based on policies, priorities, and requirements. This, the second article in a two-part series from the book "Web Service Contract Design & Versioning for SOA", introduces three common versioning strategies: strict, flexible, and loose. The pros and cons of each approach are discussed and further ranked in relation to strictness, governance impact, and complexity. The role of version identifiers is also explored through a series of examples. SOA http://www.soamag.com/contributors/bio-dorchard.asp#When:09.01.09 http://www.soamag.com/I23/1108-5.asp Web services have made it possible to build services with fully decoupled contracts that leverage industry standards to establish a vendor-neutral communications framework. Though powerful and flexible, this framework brings with it an on-going responsibility to effectively manage those service contracts as the services continue to evolve over time. One of the most critical aspects of service governance is contract versioning. This first of two articles, comprised of excerpts from the recently released "Web Service Contract Design and Versioning for SOA" book, explores fundamental service contract issues, including compatible and incompatible versioning requirements. SOA http://www.soamag.com/contributors/bio-dorchard.asp#When:17.11.08