A Gartner study predicts that by 2008 service-oriented architecture (SOA) will be the foundation for 80% of new technology projects. In the mortgage industry, SOA adoption has been under way for some time. Aegis Mortgage boasts SOA wrapped around its Galagher Net Oxygen loan origination system. Quicken Mortgage uses SOA where it makes sense for us and currently deploys some 60 services. For the small lenders, Fiserv's Del Mar Database offers some SOA-like functionality that it says is about as close to SOA as the little guys are likely to receive.

Meanwhile, Thornburg Mortgage is keeping careful tabs on the benefits it derives from SOA. Working with Mortgage Cadence's consulting division, 3t Systems, Thornburg has calculated the SOA will bring it a cost benefit of more than $3 million over the next three years and almost $6 million over the next five years. The Santa Fe, N.M.-based lender estimates that the SOA-derived benefits for correspondent lending, for example, will bring it a 23% cost reduction, with an 18% reduction in cycle time.