Thrift, ProtoBufs, and Avro solve the messaging compatibility layer problem at least (optional fields in a schema are all you need 99%+ of the time) and so far

Thrift, ProtoBufs, and Avro solve the messaging compatibility layer problem at least (optional fields in a schema are all you need 99%+ of the time) and so far nothing out there has managed to solve any data schema incompatibility problem automatically because that’s pretty much intractable, but providing tools that make finding problems earlier certainly helps with the reality of SOA in its various incarnations.