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 2006-2007, SOA Systems Inc. http://www.soamag.com/I3/0107-1.asp A service-oriented architecture (SOA) can provide enterprises with significant benefits, including the ability to reuse application functionality and to interconnect heterogeneous applications to create new composite ones. However, a critical component to the realization of SOA benefits is that users throughout the extended enterprise can efficiently access and interact with key resources. Otherwise you cannot fully leverage your infrastructure investment. Using AJAX rich internet applications (RIAs) as the presentation tier, however, can significantly enhance the impact of SOA. This article explains how companies can link their employees, customers and partners, with a scalable, flexible interface to efficiently interact with service-oriented resources. (First published in The SOA Magazine Issue III, January 2007.) SOA http://www.soamag.com/contributors/bio-mquinn.asp#When:03.01.07