Comparative Study on Service-Oriented Architecture and Event-Driven Architecture

Over the years many different architecture styles and concepts have evolved. Two of them are Service-Oriented architecture (SOA) and Event-Driven architecture (EDA). Both styles are revolutionary in the way they try to link business with information technology. They can provide great benefits for the business organization if they are used in the right occasion for the right purpose. However, there are some confusion about the relation between these two architectures. There is a lot of debate on exactly how Event-Driven architecture will blend in with Service-Oriented architecture. Before adopting Service-Oriented architecture and Event-Driven Architecture for architectural design of enterprise system, it would be better to obviously understand the similarity and distinct between Service-Oriented architecture and Event-Driven Architecture. The study is trying to describe two topics Service-Oriented architecture and Event-Driven architecture in several aspects (characteristics, concept, principles, data, and implementation components). These aspects are studied and analyzed by using existing information. From the comparative study, it could be summarized that Event-Driven architecture is not an implementation style of Service-Oriented architecture but they are peers and complements within the business context and IT context.