Asia's service oriented architecture (SOA) market could more than double to $2.2bn by 2010, according to new forecasts.

IBM retains its position as the leading SOA vendor in the region, followed by Microsoft, BEA, HP, SAP, Tibco and Oracle, according to Springboard Research.

The regional SOA market was worth $810m in 2007, based on interviews with business and IT executives in the region.

Springboard's figures, which predict 40 per cent annual growth for SOA in Asia over the next three years, exclude Japan's larger, but more mature, market.

"Awareness [of SOA] has increased substantially in the past year, and we are now seeing this translate into healthier adoption levels across Asia," said Balaka Baruah Aggarwal, a senior analyst at Springboard.

"SOA continues to gain traction in the market as more companies are implementing SOA or planning to do so."

Adoption is being driven by the need to integrate IT systems following company mergers and takeovers. Almost half of companies involved in mergers and acquisitions deploy SOA, according to Springboard.

However, reports from some SOA adopters point to integration difficulties. " The main challenge with SOA deployment is managing performance and scalability. Some 21 per cent mentioned this as their number one concern," said Aggarwal.

"SOA is still largely a technology initiative led by IT managers, as indicated by 68 per cent of our surveyed respondents.

"As such, SOA has mainly been a technology-driven investment instead of an investment focused on addressing clear-cut business goals."