Thomas Erl is the world's top-selling SOA author, Series Editor of the "Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl" (<a href="http://www.soabooks.com" target="_parent">www.soabooks.com</a>), and Editor of The SOA Magazine (<a href="http://www.soamag.com" target="_parent">www.soamag.com</a>). With over 95,000 copies in print world-wide, his books have become international bestsellers and have been formally endorsed by senior members of major software organizations, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, BEA, Sun, Intel, SAP, and HP. His most recent titles "SOA Design Patterns" (<a href="http://www.soapatterns.com" target="_parent">www.soapatterns.com</a>) and "Web Service Contract Design and Versioning for SOA" were co-authored with a series of industry experts and are being released in the latter half of 2008. These books follow his three already-published titles that include "SOA Principles of Service Design" and "Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design." Thomas is also the founder of SOA Systems Inc. (<a href="http://www.soasystems.com" target="_parent">www.soasystems.com</a>), a company specializing in SOA training, certification, and strategic consulting services with a vendor-agnostic focus. Through his work with standards organizations and independent research efforts, Thomas has made significant contributions to the SOA industry, most notably in the areas of service-orientation and SOA methodology. Thomas is a speaker and instructor for private and public events, and has delivered many workshops and keynote speeches. Papers and articles written by Thomas have been published in numerous industry trade magazines and Web sites, and he has delivered Webcasts and interviews for many publications, including the Wall Street Journal. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.thomaserl.com" target="_parent">www.thomaserl.com</a>.