"We might as well bring back the ice and the elevator operators, " he added, referring to two symbols of the old days: daily deliveries of ice to every congressional office, and automated elevators so lawmakers wouldn't have to push buttons.
It is a popular concept -- earlier this year, students at Columbia Business School took part in a pitch competition in which the pleas for investment were actually delivered in an elevator, although these were filmed rather than having all the judges crammed inside as well.
An elevator-pitch definition of service oriented architecture would be: Loosely-coupled services with well-defined interfaces that provide business functionality and can be shared or reused across and beyond the enterprise.
Founder Michael Laine has resurrected the company and taken to Kickstarter to drum up interest (as well as a little cash) in his latest project -- a lunar elevator.