A large part of the knowledge in this book has come from the numerous great people I have worked with. Not all of them are listed here but they have certainly influenced me in my life and that has resulted in this work. First of all I am extremely grateful to Ahmed Aboulnaga for being humble enough and allowing me to co-author this book. Based on my interactions with him in the course of writing this book, I have found him to be a great technologist, and a wonderful man. He was always an e-mail away whenever I had any questions and has acted both as my educator and a guide.

I cannot thank my employers, Matt Wright and John Deeb, enough for being very appreciative and supportive about me completing this book. Both Matt and John are passionate exponents of SOA and BPM, exceptional leaders, and have allowed me to focus my energy on writing, and I greatly thank them for that. Matt is also an acclaimed author of the popular Oracle SOA Suite Developer's Guide, Antony Reynolds, Matt Wright, Packt Publishing.

The content of this book has significantly improved based on the feedback received from many reviewers. A book is never a single person's creation. I am grateful to all the reviewers of the book, the ones who have done it officially with Packt and also the ones who have gracefully accepted my request personally. Full credit goes to Hans Forbich, Tobias Luetticke, Shanthi Vishwanathan, Mehmet Demir and my colleagues from Rubicon Red, Craig Barr and Judy Nie, who have all provided invaluable feedback and suggestions to make the final version of the book much better than the original draft.

Rashmi Phadnis, Sayama Waghu, Yashodhan Dere, Dayan Haymes, and the entire team from Packt Publishing have shown exceptional professionalism and provided great support when we needed it and helped the book see light. Thank you all for believing in us and taking the initiative to publish so many great books on technology, including this one.

I would also like to thank all the clients, colleagues, peers, and superiors that I have worked with over the years. I learned something new from each one of you, and for that I am grateful.

Most importantly, I would like to appreciate the encouragement I have from my parents for helping me achieve many things in my life. My brother Amit, my sister Anita, and my friends Ravi, Amit, and Ankit have supported and encouraged me in every way possible, right from the time I began working on this book.

A special note of thanks to my wonderful wife Karuna for her constant support, cooperation, and patience without which it would have been impossible for me to manage my work and life together. Thank you for believing that I could write this book when I did not believe it myself and for supporting me even when my already busy schedule only got busier.

I have learned a lot from all of you and I have so much more to learn.