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Despite the wide range of advantages which many authors associate with the introduction of a service-oriented architecture (SOA), comprehensive SOA implementations continue to be scarce in practice. Consequently, questions arise as to how the concept is adapted in practice. This paper compares the scientific view of SOA concepts with initial practical experience from first SOA implementations. Based on an SOA model which is derived from recent SOA publications it examines SOA realization in four case studies. From the cross-case analysis, the authors derive three focus areas of SOA adoption, a prioritization of SOA design principles as well as typical steps towards SOA implementation in practice.