Thomas Erl is the world's top-selling SOA author, series editor of the Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl (www.soabooks.com), and editor of the SOA Magazine (www.soamag.com). With over 120,000 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, Sun, Intel, SAP, CISCO, and HP.

Two of his five books, SOA Design Patterns and SOA Principles of Service Design, were authored in collaboration with the IT community and have contributed to the definition of the service-oriented architectural model and service orientation as a distinct paradigm. Thomas is currently working with over 20 authors on eight new books dedicated to service-oriented computing and modern service technology platforms, such as cloud computing.

In cooperation with SOASchool.com™, Thomas has helped develop the curriculum for the internationally recognized SOA Certified Professional accreditation program (www.soaschool.com), which has established a series of formal, vendor-neutral SOA certifications. Thomas is also the founder of SOA Systems Inc. (www.soasystems.com), a company specializing in vendor-neutral SOA consulting and training services.

Thomas is the founding member of the SOA Manifesto Working Group (www.soa-manifesto.org), chair of the SOA Education Committee, and oversees the SOAPatterns.org initiative, a community site dedicated to the on-going development of a master pattern catalog for SOA.

Thomas has toured over 20 countries as a speaker and instructor for public and private events, and regularly participates in SOA Symposium (www.soasymposium.com) and Gartner conferences. Over 100 articles and interviews by Thomas have been published in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal and CIO Magazine.