Soa policy versioning

A method for controlling versioning of a service, comprising:

• producing computer executable program code;
• storing the code on a computer readable medium;
• and
• providing the program code to be deployed and executed on a computer system, the program code comprising instructions which, when executed on the computer system, cause the computer system to:
• communicate with a service registry and a policy repository, the policy repository comprising a plurality of different service levels of a service;
• centralize a location lookup in the service registry for a plurality of different versions of the service wherein each of the plurality of different versions may have a separate location;
• and
• mediate a call for a service by a consumer by
• selecting and returning a correct service level from the plurality of different service levels from the policy repository as a function of a requirement of the consumer;
• looking up a proper version of the service needed by the consumer in the service registry from the plurality of different versions of the service as a function of the returned correct service level;
• and
• call the looked-up proper service from a location associated with the proper service in the service registry.

A programmable device comprising:

• a processing means;
• a service registry and a policy repository in communication with the processing means, the policy repository comprising a plurality of different service levels of a service;
• and
• a network interface in communication with the processing means the service registry and the policy repository;
• wherein the processing means is configured to:
• centralize a location lookup in the service registry for a plurality of different versions of the service wherein each of the plurality of different versions may have a separate location;
• and
• mediate a call for a service by a consumer by
• selecting and returning a correct service level from the plurality of different service levels from the policy repository as a function of a requirement of the consumer;
• looking up a proper version of the service needed by the consumer in the service registry from the plurality of different versions of the service as a function of the returned correct service level;
• and
• call the looked-up proper service from a location associated with the proper service in the service registry.