Penn National Among New SOA Consortium Members

Needham, Mass. - As the insurance industry becomes more immersed in service oriented architecture (SOA) technologies, few outside organizations are available that provide peer review, guidance and cross-industry advice. Penn National Insurance, a Harrisburg, Penn., mutual company that provides a wide range of insurance, however, seems to find such an organization. Penn is among 31 others joining the newly formed SOA Consortium since it's inception on May 1, signaling the onslaught of business organizations across vertical markets requiring SOA-related information. 
The SOA Consortium comprises end users, service providers and technology vendors committed to helping the Global 1000 successfully adopt SOA by 2010. Penn's membership brings the total number of participants to more than 50 in the less than six months since beginning operations, the Needham, Mass., advocacy group reports Founding sponsors are BEA Systems, Inc., Cisco, IBM Corporation, and SAP AG.  
New SOA Consortium members include: Bunge Agribusiness, Cambridge Technology Enterprises, Capability Measurement, Cape Clear Software, Inc., Center for Public-Private Enterprises, CGI Federal, Daugherty Business Solutions, eCube Systems, LLC, EDS, Equally Keen, Ltd., Evans Data Corporation, Fidelity Investments, Forestay, LLC, Fraunhofer FOKUS, H2O GmbH, Helm Solutions Group, Hitachi Consulting, iWay Software, Lake Trail Partners, LLC, MAKE Technologies Inc., Mercury Interactive, MomentumSI, Penn National Insurance, PricewaterhouseCoopers, SAIC, PHS Operation, Schlumberger Technology, SDG Corporation, Sonoa Systems, Thomas & Hebert, Torry Harris Business Solutions, and ZapThink, LLC.  
"The SOA Consortium's core mission of advocacy is clearly being heard by the industry as evidenced by our rapid growth in membership," said Richard Mark Soley, Ph.D., executive director, SOA Consortium.  
That mission plays out in membership activities that include:
* Redirecting the industry conversation to "business-driven SOA;" * Exchanging real-world insights on preparing their business and IT organizations for SOA; * Influencing technology vendors and service providers on the techniques, products and services to derive business value from SOA; and, * Influencing standards-organizations on pragmatic standards related to SOA.  
Managed by the Object Management Group, an international, open membership, not-for-profit computer industry consortium, the SOA Consortium founding enterprise members include Fortune 200 companies in financial services, travel, manufacturing, retail and telecommunications. 
For more information, visit http://www.soa-consortium.org.  Source: The SOA Consortium