This is the first in a series of papers intended to help better understand the value of a service-oriented architecture (SOA), and to develop a realistic plan for evaluating current infrastructure and migrating it to a true service-oriented architecture. It is intended that after reading this paper,you will understand why it is claimed that a SOA is the best platform for carrying existing assets into the future, as well as enabling the rapid and correct development of future applications. Additionally, you should have a better understanding of the major considerations in planning such a migration.