Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a growing concept for distributed software systems that opens new avenues for complex business processes spanning enterprise borders that require integration. This is accomplished by the utilization of the numerous technologies that comprise SOA. Although many standards for such an implementation have been established in recent years, SOA remains steeped in controversies over the methods that realize its complete architectural model. In this book, the author Hendrik Mueller provides a state-of-the-art analysis of existing as well as emerging standards and technologies relevant to SOA. Furthermore, he closely examines business processes and their relationship to these technologies. He elucidates the different approaches to SOA implementation and illustrates them by the example of a prototype. This book addresses readers from both academia as well as the industry as an insight into the fundamentals of SOA, its evolution, and its recent avatar.