May 13, 2008 | Comments: (0)
SOA vendors don't understand the value
David Linthicum boils it down to this: SOA vendors focus too much on integration and not enough on architecture.
"Most SOA vendors out there don't understand the value of SOA, nor how to approach SOA," Linthicum explains.
Dozens of vendors, for instance, built integration tools back when integration was hot. Recently they've re-labeled those tools for SOA and done so without tailoring them accordingly.
"When selling into the SOA market, they are driving integration and not architecture, focusing more on the tactical, and not the strategic," Linthicum adds in this Real World SOA poststrong>. "Not as much value to the business there."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on May 13, 2008 10:24 AM
April 22, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Now that the latest X-oriented architecture buzzword has lit upon IT confusion, quite naturally, is brewing about just what WOA, as in Web oriented architecture, is and how it relates to SOA.
"The problem with concepts such as WOA, is that they need to come with some education. I mean, SOA was really nothing new, but it provided us with a different way of thinking about things we already understood. Same with WOA," David Linthicum explains.
"I would argue that while many architects are indeed looking at Web-based development, most don't want to go there in a big way, or understand why they should go there," Linthicum asserts. "What will occur, however, is a grassroots movement to WOA, and they will reluctantly follow."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 22, 2008 10:16 AM
April 16, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Service orientation makes IT critical
IT is entering a new phase in which organizations must orient delivery of service across the entire IT supply chain to behave and operate in a real-time manner.
"Let's call this the Service Orientation of IT," Tony Bishop writes, “where leading innovative firms are using as a strategy to improve the long term competitive position of business – by delivering anytime, anywhere information and processing as the business needs/when they need it."
The core building blocks of the SOIT strategy, Bishop explains, are: SOA, real-time infrastructure, service oriented utility and service oriented product management.
"The compelling drivers of global business and increasing importance of IT as the digital value chain of the business, positions IT executives and their organizations to be more strategic and critical than ever before in the history of IT," Bishop points out in Service Orientation of IT.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 16, 2008 06:42 AM
April 07, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Add another letter to the SOA acronym bowl: W, as in Web oriented architecture.
"You can think of WOA as SOA meets the Web 2.0, but perhaps it's not that simple," David Linthicum writes in WOA vs. SOA?
Linthicum continues that if you look at the most successful SOA deployments, most are occurring on the Web, not within the enterprise. "It does not matter to me if you call this The Global SOA, Web 2.0, or WOA, as long as the core value is understood," Linthicum asserts.
"What is changing quickly is that enterprises are finding that the path of least resistance ... to build their SOAs on the Web, using Web resources, including content, Internet delivered APIs, and Web services."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 7, 2008 09:29 AM
April 03, 2008 | Comments: (0)
David Linthicum shares a few suggestions about preparing for the universal SOA.
To clarify, universal SOA is "outside-in SOA, in essence reusing service in an enterprise not created by that enterprise, much as we do today with information on the Web."
The notion is not altogether new, but we are seeing bits and pieces begin to emerge, Linthicum points out.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on April 3, 2008 11:29 AM
March 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Calling the Federal Government "Fortune 1" in terms of leveraging technology, David Linthicum explains that as it gets its IT house in order, the government is focusing more on architecture, common issues, and indeed, that means SOA.
"SOA varies greatly from government organization to organization, and where some areas of the government are making some headway, others are catching up, or not yet starting," Linthicum explains in The federal government needs to understand SOA.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 21, 2008 11:08 AM
March 20, 2008 | Comments: (0)
SOA is expanding but doing so slowly, at least when compared to other technologies.
"This is a good thing, if you ask me, considering the complexity and scope of SOA, and the good or bad impact it can have on a business," David Linthicum explains in It's all about the business case.
Linthicum looks at a recent Forrester Research reports and finds good news about SOA.
"First, SOA is growing, and second the business case is driving it. That's typically healthy when considering how we followed, and then dumped a number of technological trends in the past."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 20, 2008 11:31 AM
March 14, 2008 | Comments: (0)
9 items to consider about services and orchestration
The most practicable way to think about services and orchestration is as independent layers in which the process layer is the calling application to the services to extract both data and behavior needed to form cohesive orchestrations.
That's just the beginning, David Linthicum asserts in Considering services and orchestration.
"Orchestration is a necessity if you build a SOA, intra- or inter-organization," Linthicum explains.
So, what else to take into account? Plenty, in fact, from Linthicum's perspective there are at least nine such realities.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 14, 2008 10:59 AM
March 10, 2008 | Comments: (0)
3 reasons EAs fall short with SOA
Perhaps enterprise architects just don’t get the entire notion of service-oriented architecture.
That’s one reason David Linthicum supplies in Why EA's continue to fall short with SOA and enterprise architecture.
“I think it's going to take some well published disasters that almost kill a company or two before the powers that be understand the real problem here,” he writes.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 10, 2008 11:08 AM
March 06, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Reuse, as pretty much everyone knows, is something of a holy grail when it comes to service-oriented architectures.
“I think reuse should be a goal, and clearly we've had that on our radar in IT for some time. However ... the core benefit is the value of reusing, not that fact that you reuse. There is a difference,” David Linthicum writes in Reusing the topic of reuse.
That said, Linthicum contends that we won’t get to “mass reuse” anytime soon.
“SOA can still have value without a significant amount of reuse.”
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 6, 2008 11:22 AM
March 05, 2008 | Comments: (0)
What gets neglected when testing SOA services
IT pros are forgetting a few things when testing SOA services.
“Many services will become parts of other services, and thus composite services leveraged by an application. You must consider this in their design,” David Linthicum asserts in What’s neglected when testing services?
The answer to that question, in part, are reuse, heterogeneity, abstraction and aggregation.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 5, 2008 04:25 AM
March 03, 2008 | Comments: (0)
SOA spending up, but where's the value?
Despite marketing campaigns to the contrary, reuse is not core to the value of SOA, David Linthicum asserts.
"Not that you won't achieve reuse, and that there is benefit, but that the value of agility, or creating an architecture that's changeable around the needs of the business is far more valuable than any services you can share," he explains in SOA spending up, so where is the value? "People chase SOA understanding that reuse is the core value. Thus, when it's not they consider SOA a failure."
Then again, a reader comments that "it's hard to separate reuse from agility."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on March 3, 2008 04:37 AM
February 28, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Too much SOA governance is a bad thing
Whereas most people are just studying service-oriented architecture and don't really know what it is, let alone SOA governance, sometimes the "manage by technology" notion has a tendency to confuse things, David Linthicum explains.
There may be too much focus on SOA governance at this point.
"We seem to be spending a lot of time discussing how many services we're going to build before we need SOA governance, and not enough time on what that means to a more holistic architecture."
Instead, we need people who understand governance to control and drive policies and management around the services we're creating, and those not yet created.
Linthicum urges IT pros to do a lot of research before jumping feet first into any kind of architecture. Experience, after all, is an excellent teacher.
Tune into the SOA Report podcast.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 28, 2008 10:26 AM
February 26, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Hundreds of millions 'to be wasted' on SOA
Analyst house AMR Research found that while SOA spending is on the rise nearly everywhere, a lack of clarity about its benefits makes IT's long-term commitment to the model iffy.
"Hundreds of millions of dollars will be invested pursuing these markets in 2008, much of it wasted," said AMR analyst Ian Finley. SOA spend up despite unclear benefits.
Why? Well, for one, the actual benefits of creating an SOA remain somewhat murky and, in some instances, even misguided. Whereas vendors and others cite the ability to reuse components as one major benefit, in reality IT shops are finding that agility is the more practicable, if harder to measure, advantage to SOA, Finley contends.
As of now, Finley is concerned that SOA may not get picked up much beyond the early adopters — mainly financial services, telecommunications, and government organizations that are predisposed to the value of architecture and thus more willing to pursue SOA for less-quantifiable results.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 26, 2008 07:43 AM
February 25, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Responding to David Millman's assertion that instead of service-oriented architecture, SOA ought to stand for solutions-oriented architecture, David Linthicum concedes that the industry "may have gotten the name wrong."
But for different reasons, perhaps, than Millman suggested.
"The term service oriented architecture does lead many to believe that Web services are always the way. That's not really true. Indeed services can be deployed using any number of technology approaches, languages, and standards," Linthicum explains in SOA by any other name.
In the end, though, it doesn't really matter so much what you call it, "as long as you do it right."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 25, 2008 07:14 AM
February 21, 2008 | Comments: (0)
In this week's podcast, David Linthicum connects the dots between SOA and Web 2.0.
"The reality is we're putting together these new architectures which deal with lots of assets in the enterprise as services," he begins. "We're also finding that there are also assets outside the firewall, on the Web, that are services as well."
It may be sacrilegious to enterprise architects, but by putting those services that you didn't build, host or own, into your own portfolio, IT can cost-effectively leverage them.
"We're going quickly to a world where many of the valuable services that we’re working with within the enterprise and going to lie outside the enterprise."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 21, 2008 05:59 AM
February 15, 2008 | Comments: (0)
How SOA and Web 2.0 are married
Not exactly strange bedfellows, SOA and the so-called new Web, otherwise known by the buzzword Web 2.0.
Think: Web services, reusable components, standard interfaces.
"This is becoming a very important component to Web 2.0, or the ability to mix and match 'outside-in' services for use within enterprise applications," David Linthicum explains.
And so if flows toward machine-to-machine information exchange using standard protocols, a reality the world is facing quite quickly, Linthicum adds in How SOA and Web 2.0 are married.
"SOA not only becomes the core enabling architecture, but liberates existing information contained in legacy, as well as provides a mechanism to consume services from the Web. In fact the Web could become the mother of all SOAs very quickly."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 15, 2008 06:06 AM
February 11, 2008 | Comments: (0)
5 things SOA vendors are missing
Make sure you know what SOA is. That's one of David Linthicum's rules for vendors, particularly those who, "rather than providing tools to help build an SOA, are selling products that could be an SOA unto itself." And that's exactly what has customers confused, pulling hair out of their own scalps. While youire at it, he urges in 5 things SOA vendors are missing, consider the future. "Architectures are journeys, not projects, and SOA is no exception."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 11, 2008 09:14 AM
February 06, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Defining SOA governance twice and for all
SOA: David Linthicum is tired of vendors asking how he defines SOA governance. And my guess he's not alone. So he puts his own spin on it, taking into account the two emerging flavors -- design time and runtime. "It's important to understand the differences, and that you may indeed need two SOA governance products," he writes in Defining SOA governance. "The notion of SOA governance will morph into more solid foundations of technology, and the standards around this space should mature and normalize."
Columnist's corner: With its ongoing antitrust struggles, Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo just might be antitrust bait. "If Microsoft buys Yahoo, it isn't a monopoly if there is some form of competition out there, and Google is certainly competition. But that doesn't mean Microsoft faces 'fair' competition -- after all, it has the ability to spend and spend to trump the existing competitors," Peter Bruzzese writes in this week's Enterprise Windows installation. "Isn't that the point? A little healthy competition (or unhealthy competition) never hurt anyone."
The news beat: Dell tries to patch its enterprise support with ProSupport, which it claims is a more customizable program. Fujitsu launches global WiMax products in the form of BroadOne and three base stations. In the latest estimate, Gartner says that India's IT market will reach $24 billion by 2011 as firms there ratchet up IT budgets 13 percent this year. And when it comes to Q4 phones sales, Apple bests Microsoft and Motorola.
Social media: Cracking the blogosphere is something of a mystery, especially for PR pros, CMOs and marketeers. "The first thing you need to know is that most bloggers are NOT motivated solely by money," Lena West explains in How to get bloggers to talk about your brand. "This is basic networking folks. The nuts and bolts of influencer engagement."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 6, 2008 05:52 AM
February 01, 2008 | Comments: (0)
A good SOA pro is hard to find
SOA: "I've been screaming about this for a few years now," Daivd Linthicum writes. And now the data points are finally coming in to prove that, "the lack of SOA talent is killing SOA." An IBM survey determined that more than half of respondents cite a lack of SOA skills as the foremost inhibitor to launching and delivering service-oriented architecture projects -- and about half of respondents admit to having less than 25 percent of the skills they need, he explains in this Real World SOA post. "Indeed, the larger issue is that the wrong people are working on SOA projects, and thus are being setup for failure. Moreover, people are paying big bucks for SOA consultants, and they also have no clue."
M&A: Microsoft put in a bid to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 billion. The offer, a 62 percent premium over Yahoo's closing price on Thursday, is bold enough that one analyst states Yahoo's board will have to consider it, if only for shareholder's stake. Although Yahoo has yet to say anything other than the standard line that it will review Microsoft's proposal, privacy groups are already vowing to fight the deal. Related: Read Microsoft CEO's letter to Yahoo's board containing the offer.
Notes from the field: Robert X. Cringely insists that he was not surprised by Microsoft's offer, particularly since Yahoo's stock is currently "swirling down the toilet." His words, not mine. "I predict that Microsoft will not be the only suitor, and some major media company or broadband provider will dive in with a competitive offer." MicroYahoo: A marriage made in heck. Cringe concedes, though, that Microsoft would likely win nonetheless. "While MS execs cut a groove in the ozone commuting between Sunnyvale and Redmond, trying to manage two bureaucratic morasses at the same time, the Google machine will chug merrily along, kicking Microsoft where it hurts most: in the operating system."
Special: Microsoft's attempt to snag Yahoo is not the only news this week. That's right, iPhones went missing, there was spectrum bidding, large swaths of the Middle East and India fell off the Internet. Think you can nail a perfect score? It's harder than it looks. InfoWorld News Quiz.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on February 1, 2008 10:47 AM
January 24, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Podcast: Even enterprise architects, and many of them at that, are ineffective when it comes to services-oriented architecture. Typical organizations have layers upon layers of technologies that do not all work together, David Linthicum explains. And while everything might work just fine, once a need to change core processes springs up, companies find out just static and fragile their infrastructure truly is. Thus, "the role of the enterprise architect is going to need to morph into something that is a bit more productive, a bit more influential, and a bit more effective than in the past. Inefficiencies are so awful that its starting to affect the business." Listen to Real World SOA.
Best of the blogs: Way down at the bottom of Microsoft's press release about boosting its virtualization efforts Randall Kennedy found a tidbit stating that the 2003 and 2007 versions of Office are now supported when running in both Microsoft's Applications Virtualization 4.5 and SoftGrid's Applications Virtualization 4.2. "It signals a major shift in Microsoft's view of its nascent application virtualization platform. No longer a 'fringe' technology, 'MAV' is now an accepted part of the Windows ecosystem," Kennedy explains. Which causes him to wonder: Is virtualized MS Office just around the corner? "I expect the full-court press to continue throughout the coming year, with Microsoft 'gifting' more and more of MAV until its biggest customers find the bait irresistible and start dabbling with the technology." Related news: Microsoft steps up assault on virtualization.
Columnist's corner: Tom Yager offers some words to the wise: Don't just let vendors, or anyone who sells you convenience for that matter, be the expert you rely on. Instead, become your own most trusted source of knowledge, if only because sharp science leads to smart decisions. Take benchmarks, for instance. "Now that I can run, and more importantly, explain the [SPEC] tests that my readers are studying to make comparisons among vendors, I'm fired up about benchmarks," he explains. "When you end up making smarter decisions with the new knowledge you've gathered from the most trustworthy source on the planet (you), science is good for your career, whatever it says on your business card."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 24, 2008 04:53 AM
January 18, 2008 | Comments: (0)
Defending SOA in tight- budget times
Best of the blogs: What with all the talk these days of a recession or, at the very least, reduced IT budgets, the time is right to plot a strategy for keeping SOA high on the list of corporate priorities. "SOA is going to need some defending," David Linthicum espouses in this Real World SOA post. Linthicum joins the chorus of SOA champions, one of whom offers up 3 key tactics. Linthicum sums its up by stating, "in essence, prove that the investment in SOA should increase during a downturn, considering that the ROI is very high."
InfoWorld News Quiz: You don't know tech. Nope, you don't. You might have a good idea what happened at Macworld, I'll give you that. But what of all the other news this week? What, for instance, has Amazon done to offend the French this time? And, which former boy-band singer did Amazon join up with? Think you know, then prove me wrong and take the test.
Notes from the field: He won't typically help you much with that quiz, but Robert X. Cringely once again delivers Geek week in review, in which he waxes prophetic on Big Brother can you spare a dime? All my excess live in Texas, and Cruise Control. Yes, that's as in Tom Cruise, the de facto spokesperson for the Church of Scientology. "Apparently, even the great L. Ron in the sky can't stop it," Cringe opines. "Couldn't he just have a sex tape like everyone else in Hollywood?" Ugh, I feel sick, too.
Save Windows XP: Thus far some 30,000 people, and counting, have signed the Save XP petition, thereby asking Microsoft not to discontinue Windows XP come June 30 as planned but, instead, to keep it available indefinitely.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 18, 2008 10:54 AM
January 11, 2008 | Comments: (0)
SOA: A prior post of David Linthicum's sparked some debate about whether SOA is or is not a special project and how a turbulent economy could affect SOA. "What's frustrating about all this is that SOA is really about a systemic change in the way we do IT, and not really a 'special project,'" Linthicum proclaims in this Real World SOA post. "Within most enterprises SOA, like data warehousing, EAI, B2B, etc., are all considered to be 'newer technologies,' and/or approaches, and thus should be considered an 'experiment' in the minds of those writing the budgets. SOA is not about technology, it's about architecture. The sooner everyone gets that the sooner it won't be on the list of special projects." Related: Budget cuts and SOA.
Notes from the field: Friday again and that means Cringe presents: Geek week in review. This time around its Porn to run, More Sony baloney and Something Wikia this way comes. Microsoft and monkeys cameo, too. Look for them at the very end.
The news beat: Touching, once again, on the service-oriented architecture theme, WSO2 brings Ruby to SOA with WSF/Ruby 1.0, with which it hopes to bridge Ruby programming with SOA and Web services. Intel releases Clear Bay, which it calls a low-cost white-box blade server platform. Ultramobile PCs get panned for hardware and design flaws at the CES show in Las Vegas this week. And long-time Microsoft veteran, and the president of its business division, Jeff Raikes will retire come September.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on January 11, 2008 11:45 AM
December 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)
SOA: Whittling myriad complex issues into a triptych, David Linthicum points out core problems currently haunting SOA vendors. For one, "many are so bound to their messaging, collateral, and sales pitches that they don't seem to find the time to listen to the customer before proposing a solution," he explains in Where the SOA technology vendors are falling down. Another is that, "most vendors are attempting to sell 'magical technology' that when bolted onto the existing infrastructure will indeed create an SOA." But, Linthicum asserts, many best practices need to be considered, and SOA is never just technology-driven. Related: BEA adds Eclipse to ESB, in SOA move.
The news beat: Sun Microsystems says it is discontinuing its developer tool suites and, instead, suggesting that users migrate to the NetBeans IDE, a new version of which, NetBeans 6.0, is being released today. As more and more developers are being paid by their employers to wok on open source projects, the question has arisen as to how they -- and, in turn, the open source community -- can protect their freedom and rights from employer demands and resist corporate influence. And the Commodore 64 celebrates its 25th anniversary, with nostalgic glimpses back in time by Steve Wozniak, former Commodore chairman Jack Tramiel, and IBM's Bill Lowe.
Notes from the field: Cringe sings, and snarls just a little, expressing a common feeling: I'm so bo-o-ored with the RIAA (but what can I do?). "We're all thieves here, right?" he asks, in reference to yet another file swapping case underway. At issue this time is whether ripping tunes from a CD to MP3s constitutes stolen goods. The RIAA, of course, says yes; some bloggers disagree, citing the RIAA's own language about unauthorized copies meaning only MP3s residing in your Kazaa shared folder. "It's really a moot argument. The fact is, if the recording industry could ban ripping MP3s outright -- or charge you money for it -- they'd do it in a heartbeat," Cringe explains.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on December 12, 2007 10:39 AM
November 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
IT backlogs as metric for SOA?
SOA: The fact remains that measuring SOA success is not easy. One proposed manner is to look at the backlog of IT requests. That has David Linthicum writing that, "in thinking about the ROI around SOA we need to think at a bit more sophisticated level," noting that using IT backlogs is a bit after the fact, in this Real World SOA entry. "The fact of the matter is that the core benefit of SOA is agility. If you have agility, then you have the ability to change the architecture as the business needs changes. Thus, if you have IT backlogs, naturally they will decrease because it's easier to make these changes."
Columnist's corner: Are VCs stiffing enterprise technology? Perhaps. Research from Goldman Sachs, based on interviews with venture capitalists, determined that "from 2004-2006, VCs reduced their funding of enterprise-type technologies including storage, servers, software, and networking equipment in favor of the sexier Web, wireless, video, and SMB technology areas," David Margulius offers in A cooling economy chills innovation. "How much should enterprises care what VCs do, anyway? These ivory-tower moneymen actually missed the single biggest enterprise vendor success story of the decade anyhow: VMWare (turned it down)."
Sustainable IT: Practicing green IT can, sometimes, have a monetary advantage, while other times the bonus is plain old eco-friendliness, Ted Samson points out in Case study: Clean-energy plan proves too risky for 365 Main customers. 365 Main attempted to create a datacenter fueled by natural-gas-powered generators but found that, even though it would not cost prospective clients a dime, customers were unwilling due to uptime concerns. "The lesson in all this appears to be that, despite the interest in environmental stewardship espoused by so many companies, many of them aren't as eager to push the green envelope if there's even a minute risk to affecting the bottom line."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 30, 2007 04:31 AM
November 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
How ID management and SOA interact
Video: The industry as a whole is struggling with identity management and the ways it meets SOA in the enterprise are no exception. "There are established ways of access management for humans," Eric Knorr points out. The same is not so true for services, though. While many companies are still investigating the opportunities, "there are those who are full-scale addressing identity issues with their SOA deployments, particularly with regulatory compliance or for dealing with financial transactions," says Pete Yao of Accenture. On the risks that SOA adds, Rich Sharples of Sun Microsystems explains that "there are often competing standards, so it's really important to chose and choose well ... There are major benefits of taking strategic view of identity management and SOA, acting locally, taking up small pieces at a time." Watch it here.
Sustainable IT: SMBs, just like their enterprise counterparts, can benefit from green IT practices. A number of these smaller companies cite energy as the biggest cost increase over the last two years, at least according to IBM. So, poses Ted Samson, "what's a well-intentioned CEO of an SMB to do to cut those energy bills?" Six green strategies for the little guy. That list begins with, yes, you guessed it, virtualization. Next up: manage PC power better, invest in greener systems and well, I'll not spoil the ending.
Columnist's corner: The city of San Francisco is suing a voting machine company for breach of contract after chaos that saw the Secretary of State insist on all ballots being counted by hand. "What's scariest is listening to the politicians on the radio talking about the technology. They wouldn't know a hard token if it fell out of the sky onto their head. They probably think 'authentication' means finding out whether someone has had plastic surgery or Botox," David Margulius writes in Wanted: Some nice German voting software. That's German as in software maker SAP. "If they can make Corporate America’s core transactional systems run like a well-oiled machine, surely they could make this problem go away in a jiffy."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 16, 2007 04:47 AM
November 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Video: For a dose of real-world, politically incorrect opinions, David Linthicum discusses the benefits and deficits of SOA. "That's my job -- to be the designated buzzkill," Linthicum explains. "We're living very much in a confusing and changing world in that SOA has different definitions depending on who you're talking to ... One of the difficult things I find is to get beyond the hype that's in this space." To that end, he offers what not to do, then follows with several steps to embark on the journey. Watch part one of 5 things to avoid with SOA. If you don't have the commitment at the C-level, in the budget, don't do it, he advises. "You're not going to be successful." Related: Nortel readies SOA and communications push.
Apps: With IBM putting Symphony in its second beta phase and boasting that 88 percent of those 250,000 who have downloaded it are existing Microsoft Office customers, Big Blue, it appears, is also ratcheting up the competition with Microsoft and Google in the hosted apps fray, Sean Gallagher reports. "The chances of a free Symphony desktop suite displacing Office in the corporate world are close to nil," Gallagher adds in IBM's Symphony: Will anyone listen? "And while a hosted version might be interesting to organizations still using Lotus Notes, it's doubtful that it would upset anyone's applecart, aside from Google's efforts."
The news beat: Oracle executives discuss the company's Web 2.0 intentions and Fusion's timeframe at its user conference. The U.S. House passes a broadband statistics bill that would provide detailed measurements of availability. VeriSign says it will hone its focus on two core businesses, managing DNS infrastructure and selling SSL certificates, then divest three other lines. And Microsoft plans to offer a major upgrade to its Windows Live OneCare security suite next week.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 14, 2007 10:25 AM
November 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Special report: As big companies adopt SOA, the model is changing the way they plan, develop and deploy enterprise applications. Take Comcast and United Airlines as examples among the five case studies that are showing how "SOA now offers the possibility of greater alignment between IT and business than ever before," Galen Gruman writes. And a key piece of some service-oriented architectures is an ESB, otherwise known as the enterprise service bus. James Borck reviews two such offerings from Progress Sonic and Cape Clear. "These suites have come a long way since my previous encounter with the Version 6 releases (and five other commercial ESB solutions), and I was immediately impressed by the level of maturity and development delivered by both vendors." Related: InfoClipz on SOA governance.
Best of the blogs: Now that Google has unveiled it's mobile platform, Allen Fear is asking Will Android kill the iPhone? "All signs seem to indicate that Google intends to work outside the walled garden that cellcos have used to decide what they will and will not permit on the handset," he points out. "I for one would spend a lot less time in front of my computer if I had a 3G phone (preferably WiMAX) with ubiquitous and unrestricted access to the internet, a reasonable amount of storage, a basic set of productivity apps, and freedom of choice about the software I installed on the device."
Careers: A reader writes in to ask does variable compensation work for IT professionals? "Pay-for-performance entails risk as well as reward," Bob Lewis asserts. "Tech staff tend to be more motivated by a sense of achievement. Explaining the comp program in engineering terms is a more sensible choice for them." Alas, it's not quite that simple, but getting to the right question makes it all pretty clear.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 6, 2007 04:54 AM
October 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
What Oracle/BEA could mean to SOA
Best of the blogs: When it come to SOA we like hype more than reality, asserts David Linthicum, and that is particularly true of Oracle's acquisition bid for BEA Systems. BEA, of course, has been an SOA player, so the purchase, if it happens, would effect certain aspects of service-oriented architecture, he explains in this Real World SOA post. Then again, some truths will remain. "SOAs are architectures, and not products. So, no matter how much technology is acquired and put into an offering, that does not make it an architecture that you can buy," Linthicum explains. "No one size fits all, sorry to break that to you ... again."
Green IT: When a major investment bank, in this case Sanford Bernstein, publishes a 48-page report highlighting IT's role in slowing global warming, you know that there's still plenty of room to make money, Bill Snyder reports in Green capitalism grows up. Throw Wall Street into that mix and it "creates a basketful of money-making opportunities for investors and jobs for IT workers eager to make a difference."
The news beat: Several U.S. states request a five-year extension of the antitrust ruling against Microsoft, arguing that Microsoft could reap the continued dominance of IE to choke other emerging technologies. Sun Microsystems is reworking the Java plug-in technology in Java SE 6. Hewlett-Packard details its Secure Print Advantage for protecting against malware and making sure documents get to the intended people. And Google talks up its health initiative.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 18, 2007 11:23 AM
October 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)
SOA vendor mistakes reach epidemic proportions
Best of the blogs: Admitting to being taken aback on a weekly basis by unflattering product pitches, David Linthicum writes that "many SOA vendors can't explain their own product, or the problems it solves. They do know how to list buzzwords they think will wow their prospects and existing customers, however in many cases the customers become further confused, or worse, don't even get the core concept behind the product." SOA vendor mistakes costing them business and how to fix this. "Sales teams, even armed with the smartest SEs, fail to deliver more than a very canned and ineffective pitch and/or briefing, and end up looking bad and confusing people they should really not confuse. This not a trend, it's an outright epidemic."
The news beat: A security researcher says that Mac OS and Linux probably have URI issues, as Microsoft plans to patch its own this week. Hitachi claims it can cram 4TB onto hard drives by 2009 with new reading-head technology that will continue shrinking disk drive size. And Oracle's bid for BEA takes an unfriendly turn.
Video: Gina Smith is back with a look at the week ahead. Oracle's efforts to scoop up BEA just might start a bidding war. Also, the Web 2.0 Summit coming up later in the week brings nothing less than a star-studded lineup. Gates will debut Office Communications Server, and quarterly earnings from tech's heavyweights. Watch it here.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 15, 2007 05:39 AM
October 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Podcasts: Remember that old notion that most IT projects fail? It may or may not be true (we explored that reality in The six great myths of IT a while back) but, nonetheless, it is spreading to SOA. Poor planning tends to catalyze such problems. "Truth be told, SOAs are not that difficult to define, design and build," David Linthicum explains. Getting that architecture in an optimal state, however, is a hard objective to achieve. "In reality the people fail, not the technology or the approach." Tune into Real World SOA.
The news beat: For $6.8 million SAP buys Business Objects and its BI wares. Vonage settles Sprint's patent claim and, in turn, is licensing Sprint's VoIP portfolio. VMware says it will release SMB virtualization kits by year's end. And an iPod Nano catches fire in an Atlanta airport worker's pocket.
Video: Kwansah Madani again steps in for Gina Smith in The Week Ahead. This time around the lineup includes Gartner's Symposium ITXPO with heavyweights including Steve Ballmer and Michael Dell. "SOA is on the docket." Two other upcoming shows are Graphing Social Patterns Conference and the Virtual World's Conference and Expo -- with more than 30 platforms on display. Finally, tips on getting hired by a hot startup, "who to talk to, even how to act." Watch it here.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 8, 2007 11:25 AM
October 02, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Who is killing SOA? Well, just about everyone
Podcast: It might not seem like SOA is dying but David Linthicum poses the question nonetheless, because the model is potentially in danger of misdirection and ignorance rendering it a worn-out moniker that represents mere product features. That's more or less what happened to EAI, after all. Forces that might be assassinating SOA include: integration platform vendors, enterprise architects, certain industry analysts, CIOs. So perhaps the more pertinent question is who's not killing SOA? Tune into Real World SOA.
Columnist's corner: Back home after DEMOfall '07, Ephraim Schwartz has the great, the just plain good, the bad and, of course, the ugly from the conference. "This year, two demonstrations blew me away," he writes. On the other side, however, "there were way too many companies jumping on the collaboration and social networking bandwagon, all of them promising users a free version of their service."
The news beat: Microsoft snags Jellyfish.com for its comparative shopping site, with which it plans to augment its e-commerce and search offerings. BEA Systems, with a new version of Tuxedo, aims to take on mainframes. Samsung unveils an iPhone rival called Serenata which one-ups Apple's device by offering 3G support. And global chip sales remained hot in August, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on October 2, 2007 10:27 AM
September 27, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The underbelly of SOA: vendor driven architecture
SOA: Back on the topic of VDA, as in vendor-driven architecture, David Linthicum points out that, "the notion of VDA is really something most enterprise architects understand far too well these days," he writes in More thoughts on VDA. "If there is anything that bugs me about this business it's the number of enterprise architects out there that don't' focus on the core business problems, and don't learn to align technology to the business, SOA or not." Thus the question of how to fix it. Admit vendor addiction and seek help. Related Podcast: Are you doing SOA or VDA?
Sustainable IT: Supply-chain king Wal-Mart earlier this week announced that it is teaming with the Carbon Disclosure Project to track and reduce energy consumer and emissions produced by its suppliers. "This announcement is a huge one, and it should drive home the fact that it's not just tree-hugger pols and nonprofits that care about energy waste, associated carbon emissions, and other greenhouse gases," espouses Ted Samson in Wal-Mart throws its weight behind a greener supply chain. The move, Samson adds, could "prove a particularly pivotal moment in the rapidly evolving green movement, with some serious potential for a cumulative ripple effect."
The news beat: Michael Dell, meanwhile, says that his company will be carbon neutral by the end of 2008 via partnerships and programs designed to balance its emissions with activities that reduce carbon. Hewlett-Packard offers a data backup system for legal discovery, the HP Integrated Archive Platform, a bundle including hardware and software. Microsoft aims Live Search at its existing user base, it claims, rather than looking to lure new users from Google. And Cisco agrees to buy Latigent, a specialist of call center reporting tools.
Show of the week: DEMOfall '07 has certain rules for presenters. Chief among those, perhaps, is that the product you pitch must not have been previously announced. Well, mEgo either didn't know that or chose to ignore it, I don't know and won't claim that I do, but just two weeks ago the startup unveiled its wares at the TechCrunch40 conference. Because of that, mEgo was asked leave DEMO and not refunded its $18,000 entry fee, Ephraim Schwartz reports. "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on September 27, 2007 10:47 AM
September 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Best of the blogs: Enterprise architects that don't really get SOA still remain. "This is going to lead to many not finding the value within IT that they need, and their management demands," David Linthicum explains in Thinking SOA? "It's really a matter of thinking more about interoperable components, not layers and layers of technology. It's really about thinking agility, and not just a technology solution instance. In other words, thinking SOA may need to leverage a different side of your brain when coming from a more traditional world."
The news beat: Microsoft is feeling the pressure as IBM says it will offer a version of the OpenOffice suite, dubbed Lotus Symphony, while Google adds a presentation application to its own suite, rechristened Google Docs. Mozilla spins off its Thunderbird e-mail client into a yet-to-be-named subsidiary it seeded with $3 million, a move closely mimicking how the Mozilla Foundation gave wing to Mozilla Corp. as the shepherd of Firefox. And Carl Icahn returns, this time he wants to sell BEA Systems, but the investor lacks enough shares and a BEA insider did not give much hope that he'd garner support from the board.
Intel Developer Forum: Another IDF is upon us, and this time around Tom Yager is posing a tough inquiry. Does Intel have the guts? As in, will the leading chipmaker have the nerve, we know it has the wherewithal, but does it have the gumption to create the strongest x86 server market yet seen? "A changed game is inevitable for Intel in 2008. What's in question is whether Intel will play a role in changing it," Yager writes. "If Intel does one-up its rival next year, it will be a welcome turn of the tables. The fire would be lit under AMD for a change, and we'd discover what AMD is capable of when tasked to the limits of its capabilities." Related: AMD tries to upstage Intel with triple-core Phenom processor.
Video: Salesforce.com co-founder Parker Harris discusses Visualforce, platform-as-a-service, the struggle for customization, exposing code, Salesforce Ideas. "[Visualforce] is the crowning jewel that completes the picture, certainly from a development perspective, to be able to create those user interfaces on our platform without any infrastructure required." InfoWorld editor-at-large Ephraim Schwartz hosts. Watch it here. Related: Is Salesforce planning to offer an online OS next?
Posted by Tom Sullivan on September 18, 2007 10:47 AM
September 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)
No SOA? Might face a lawsuit from shareholders
SOA: It's a question many in IT would not see coming, at least not now, but David Linthicum asks it nonetheless. Could lack of SOA drive shareholder lawsuits? Indeed, you read that right. Seems a bit far-fetched but, "shareholders are looking at enterprise architecture efficiencies, along with accounting and reporting practices," he reports. A bit surprising, perhaps, yet it makes perfect sense. "At issue is the fact that many major public companies don't have efficient enterprise architectures, and thus the business is unable to adapt to new market opportunities, reuse key IT assets, and [ultimately] provide the maximum return to shareholders." Related: BEA app server gets SOA, Web 2.0.
Virtualization: The VMware show is going on this week, and David Marshall reports live that Cisco CEO John Chambers predicts a second wave. As in, another round of innovation since the Internet, built on top of virtualization and the power of the network, creating new services and support models that will be driven by consumers, Marshall reports.
Best of the blogs: When it comes to systems and network monitoring, even big plans tend to fall short in the execution phase. "Most IT shops have purchased big iron monitoring tools that turned out to be larger projects than the IT team could bite off," Harper Mann writes in It's all about working together. Enter open source and monitoring experts. "Add some open source to kick start that delayed big iron project. The business wins as it gets benefit from a stalled investment. You win with a flexible and expandable solution with more capability than was originally spec'ed." Related: Our blogger covers Gartner's open source conference.
Video: A three-minute primer on ILM, or information lifecycle management, the "all-embracing strategy to deal with the ballooning quantity and variety of information flooding the enterprise." ILM is based on two concepts: not all data has the same value and whatever value it has changes over time. "Enterprise are applying information lifecycle management principles one application at a time." Watch it here.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on September 14, 2007 04:38 AM
September 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)
SOA: With the freshly-minted BizTalk Server 2006 R2, the cornerstone of its SOA strategy, Microsoft is "just taking advantage of their captive market to convince them that SOA is all about the Microsoft platforms and not about architectural advantage," espouses Dave Rosenberg in this Open Sources post. Related podcast: More data points about SOA productivity and value.
Best of the blogs: Feeling uneasy about all those unholy partnerships cropping up in the tech sector these days? Then Brad Shimmin has some advice: get used to it. "As in nature, inside the Beltway, and on Survivor, a strange alliance is usually behind success," he writes. "Of course, who knows what evil lurks in the heart of any corporation? But one thing is for sure: If there are no unselfish acts, then both parties in any acquisition or partnership are in it for themselves and their respective communities."
Columnist's corner: "Outsourcing and offshoring are not just for IT services and business processes anymore," Ephraim Schwartz begins R&D sets sail for offshore. It's a small, intrepid group at this point, though the concept is hardly new, even if the software industry has been slow to adopt it. "But now, thanks in part to SOA outsourcers' ability to deliver components to ISVs, software companies are beginning to catch on to this development strategy -- one that engineering companies such as Ford, Boeing, and Nortel practice routinely."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on September 12, 2007 04:36 AM
August 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Best of the blogs: Now that we've been over the five main reasons that SOAs fail, and corresponding causes of success, it's time to look, with a healthy respect, at the question of just how much ROI a service oriented architecture can provide. "Everyone is talking about this study from Nucleus Research stating that SOA is having limited success when considering ROI," David Linthicum reports in this Real World SOA post. He adds that he suspects the respondents were discussing small projects that pretty much counted a bunch of Web services as an SOA. "The larger issue is that SOA, at the end of the day, is a systemic change in the way organizations approach enterprise architecture. Thus, the benefits will only be understood when the architecture has undergone that change."
Columnist's corner: It's a question that was bound to come up sooner rather than later: Does Vista suck? Choosing to stay out of OS holy wars, Oliver Rist elevates the discussion to a more practicable level for systems admins, consultants, integrators, and for that matter, just about anyone. "Does Vista suck enough that businesses of any size should simply throw up their hands and migrate over to something else?" he poses. "All due respect to the Apple orchard and open source, but my answer is 'No.'" Rist goes on to give it passing grades across a range of subjects, including installation, networking, security, application and hardware compatibility -- though a pair of those did fall under the 'pass grudgingly' category. "Are there parts of Vista I really hate? Sure."
Mobility: Not all is perfect on the so-called infinite loop in Cupertino, either. Apple's insistence on keeping the way-over-hyped iPhone closed just so happens to be paving the way for Linux momentum to beget, well, even more momentum as a cell-phone platform. "LinuxWorld Expo 2007 basked in Apple's unwitting generosity, with one booth after another featuring fledgling mobile Linux projects prospecting for funding, direction, and developers. The whole exhibit floor had the feel of a mining town that was just getting its footing," Tom Yager reports in Closed iPhone opens road for Linux. "As I said about iPhone, bragging about running an open OS on your device, when source code for said device is not published, is noise."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 23, 2007 04:45 AM
August 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Best of the blogs: Following his look at SOA failures, David Linthicum offers reasons why they work. Investment in education, quite naturally, is the first. The same goes for hiring the right people. And the two are hardly one in the same. "Many organizations attempt to leverage their existing staff to work on their SOA, not considering their aptitude for the approach," he writes. "No matter how much training you provide, some just don't get it."
From the feature well: The fact that mobility is still security's weakest link is not even close to secret means that more needs to be done about it. Easier typed than achieved, though, particularly with the proliferation of mobile workers, devices and, at least to some extent, malware. "Just as enterprises replace conventional mobile phones with newer handhelds that offer datacentric tools and access to sensitive information, IT departments are increasingly being forced to retool their data defense requirements to account for smartphone and PDA use," Matt Hines explains. Of course, "security software makers are moving quickly to cash in on the demand for more sophisticated mobile security." Related: Mobile malware to pose significant threat.
Columnist's corner: This week's Off the Record starts with foreshadowing and ominous undertones. "I thought I had found my dream CIO job when I scored an interview at a key firm in the financial services industry," our anonymous author begins Detail-obsessed CEO misses the big picture. You might think you can guess where this one is headed, but even though he didn't get the CIO position, he landed another at the same company. Big Brotherish card swipe rules were vigorously enforced, personal days docked for lateness. The CEO's business continuity plan resembled a telephone book, replete with where to find blankets and flashlights. "I found all of this small-minded attention to cost-saving perplexing until I learned that the CEO had once discovered that the former CIO and the manager of her New Jersey facility had been stealing from the company. As a result of that incident, other employees told me she became a very paranoid person and micro-managed everybody because she trusted no-one."
Careers: Balance in the work environment, as it is everywhere else, is the key to a thriving company. "Fun isn't supposed to be a substitute for the desire to win. It's supposed to augment it by keeping the environment loose and creative instead of tense and fear-driven," Bob Lewis points out in When fun isn't very much fun. That discussion invariably leads to "a question for which I have no easy answer: Whether it's possible to maintain a level of intensity without losing the sense of fun."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 22, 2007 04:44 AM
August 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Best of the blogs: Cutting right to the chase on this one, David Linthicum offers up the primary reasons that SOAs fail when they do so. To begin with, there is a misperception about exactly what SOA is. "You need to determine your requirements first, and then the technology that works to solve the problem," Linthicum writes. Opting for second-tier talent is another.
Security: Honeyd for Windows is back, writes Roger Grimes, referring to "one of the best virtual honeypot software programs in existence." Welcome news, indeed, since the previous iteration did not keep up with Windows XP, thus it was not practicable for Grimes to recommend using it over the last year or so. The update is free.
The news beat: Skype says its service outage came after a Windows update triggered million of customers to reboot and, ultimately, try to log in to the system at the same time. A Gartner analyst says that your data is less safe today than it was two years ago and, in fact, such attacks have risen 50 percent since 2003. And IBM joins forces with TDK to make compact MRAM chips that could potentially land in PCs to enable them to be turned on instantly.
Notes from the field: Cringe likens the RIAA to original gangstas in Corporate cartels gone wild. "Now it seems someone's about to bust a cap in their assets," he reports. Tanya Anderson filed a class-action suit against the RIAA, the Big 4 record companies, and Media Sentry, alleging "a range of criminal racketeering charges not seen since the John Gotti trial."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 20, 2007 10:47 AM
August 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Podcast: It's a fundamental IT question that David Linthicum asks. Is SOA working? "Most of the projects out there that are calling themselves service-oriented architecture are largely just a bunch of Web services that ultimately produce no value," he asserts. "You don't see too many SOAs that are actually service-oriented architectures unless you are able to take the project to a complete solution-oriented conclusion." There are some companies moving to a full-blown SOA, however, but it takes time. Tune into Real World SOA.
Gripe Line: Vista is not without dysfunctional aspects. "Nothing better epitomizes these problems -- and indeed the inherent shortcomings of the way Microsoft distributes and supports Windows -- than the experience of one reader with getting to Vista to work on his Averatec notebook computer," Ed Foster kicks off An aversion to supporting Windows. For starters, the Vista Express Upgrade took what felt like forever to arrive: three and a half months after Vista's retail release. Now, our reader's experience gets even more ludicrous. Averatec was rather adept at the tech-support two-step, and dodged the reader even after he contacted the California Attorney General. Twice. "You have to wonder if Averatec will even be capable of helping if it ever decides it should," Foster writes.
The news beat: The Linux Foundation takes the wraps off what it calls the Linux Weather Forecast, a Web site to keep interested parties updated on the status of Linux kernel projects. Microsoft releases a bundle of security patches, nine sets in all, that fix a total of 14 bugs in its software. And VMware, with its IPO, provides a bright spot on an otherwise dreary day on Wall Street.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 15, 2007 05:48 AM
August 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Deep divide between SOA and Web services
Podcasts: SOA middleware takes the lead in this installation of the SOA Report. Research reports, in fact, indicate that SOA outperforms mere Web services applications, with lower application lifecycle costs, better throughput for projects and higher levels of user satisfaction, David Linthicum explains. "You can expose everything as a service and get no value from that. You have to be able to put a middleware infrastructure on top of that to orrchestrate those services into solutions, and that provides the agility aspect, the solutions-roiented aspect, the reuse aspect of it. The notion that people are going to basically Web service-enable things and call that an SOA is absolutely silly." Tune into The SOA Report here.
Columnist's corner: Tom Yager bids adieu to Office 2004 for Mac while welcoming iWork '08 and new Apple hardware. "The big news from Apple's Town Hall is the three models of completely redone iMacs," he writes in New Apple iCandy dazzles. "As I predicted, Apple has overhauled .Mac to make it the burgeoning center of Apple's online universe."
The news beat: SAP lays out a road map for PLM, as in product lifecycle management, that extends until 2010. Open source database maker Ingres names a new CEO, Roger Burkhardt. Cisco CEO John Chambers predicts that Web 2.0 will spur growth akin to the Internet bubble of the 1990's. And today is the one-year mark until the 2008 Olympic Games begin in Beijing, and issues such as 3G telephony and wireless Internet have yet to be resolved.
Notes from the field: With the feeling that everyone around him is missing something really, really big, Cringe wonders about Google's offer to the meet the $4.6 billion minimum for bidding on chunks of the 700-MHz spectrum now used for analog TV broadcasts. "Personally, I love the casual way Google flashes its roll, show us all those billion dollar bills, and says, 'if you just do some things our way, you can have some of this,'" Cringe explains. "The G-men can do just about anything they want at this point, including becoming the world's biggest wireless ISP." Welcome to Googlian's Island.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on August 8, 2007 10:43 AM
July 30, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Best of the blogs: So-called 'candidate services' hold the potential to become core services, but typically require a bit more analysis before they do. "Part of the process of building a successful SOA is figuring out what should be a service, and what should not. A common amateur mistake is to service enable everything," David Linthicum explains in Looking for candidate services. "That typically proves unproductive, and could be an 'SOA killer' at the end of the day." There are no hard and fast guidelines on what constitutes a well-defined service, but Linthicum has three suggestions that ought to help.
From the Test Center: When it comes to optimizing document-centric processes, Bluespring's BPM Suite 4.5 brings strong provisions for managing complex, human-centric processes as well as built-in controls to bring geographic insight and calendar data into the mix, writes James Borck. "Its extremely accessible task-management UI stands out against competitors. Bluespring also demonstrates a good platform on which to visually construct, deploy, and monitor processes; it is code-free and incredibly easy to use," Borck adds. The downside? Poor administration tools, a limited library, and that fact that "its entire platform demands MS-branded servers, databases, and IE for its Web portal." Read the full review.
The news beat: Microsoft forms a new search center, dubbed the Internet Services Research Center, to keep up with Google. Verizon says it will acquire Rural Cellular, a mobile telephone service provider. And in a search for new revenue streams KPN agrees to buy Getronics, the Dutch IT services organization.
Notes from the field: First, a question: Who's afraid of the big, bad tube? Cringe refers to YouTube, of course. Snowmen, perverts and the occasional politician, specifically. Mitt Romney "seems to think YouTube is actually MySpace," Cringe reports. Even still, the latest word is that he 'might' participate in a Republican debate akin to the one Democrats held last week.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on July 30, 2007 10:31 AM
July 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Can't EA and SOA just get along?
Best of the blogs: Enterprise Architecture is still a valid discipline, while SOA needs to assimilate. That is one of David Linthicum's findings from a recent Webinar on the topic. Ultimately, perhaps the two actually need each other. One notion rings true, Linthicum asserts in this Real World SOA post, "learn to leverage what works, and don't try to solve problems that have already been solved."
Security: It's not often that Roger Grimes begins a column with suggestions of relaxation, so take it as you will. For me, that's with sarcastic overtones. A report from the United States Government Accountability office, he notes, suggests that identity theft really isn't a problem. Identity theft? What identity theft? That's not to say data breaches aren't happening, just that resulting identity theft is limited. One problem Grimes sees with the report, though, is that it's geared more toward protecting banks and other data-losing institutions than consumers. "Banks and merchants are privileged to be entrusted with our important financial data. If they don’t protect our information properly, they, not us, should pay the price."
The news beat: Ask.com introduces Ask Eraser to enable users to cover their tracks and not have search information stored. Facebook buys Parakey, a startup founded by the masterminds of open source browser Firefox. Dell, in a pact with a U.K. mobile phone operator, says it will give away free laptops to customers who purchase a broadband Internet subscription. And IBM details the Resiliency Maturity Index framework for assessing disaster recovery capabilities.
Storage: SMBs are facing a backup dilemma. Whereas having products to choose from is healthy, enough data protection options are emerging to make just about anyone dizzy. Worse, writes Mario Apicella in this week's installment of Storage Insider, "vendors often propose solutions that contrast sharply with what they were selling just yesterday." Think Quantum GoVault, for instance. Imation and Symantec are in the mix as well. "Unfortunately, there is no single bullet to kill the backup beast."
Posted by Tom Sullivan on July 20, 2007 09:03 AM
July 18, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Best of the blogs: It's a question on the minds of many in IT: when does one stop or slow down SOA construction? "You can service-enable and orchestrate the entire enterprise, perhaps your supply chains as well, but I doubt the cost of doing that is going to justify the benefits on most cases," writes David Linthicum in Am I done with my SOA? The answer comes in a set of data points to assist in avoiding diminishing returns -- because just as you can go do too little, it's possible to go overboard.
Columnist's corner: Even though neither Java nor .Net fulfilled such promises, the thrill of imagining "rich, responsive, attractive client applications that run identically on desktops, notebooks and mobile devices," remains, according to Tom Yager. That's why Web 2.0 needs Adobe. "I can understand why some might be disappointed that such things can't be done with AJAX alone. Blame Microsoft, Mozilla, and Apple for that; 'browser as a platform' has been on their to-do lists for years."
The news beat: Oracle scoops up Bharosa and its identity theft and fraud detection software. Devicespace says it is tackling the Wi-Fi guest access problem with a beta version of software for storing user sign-on information for multiple public hotspots. Intel makes samples of Penryn chips available to OEMs prior to the actual product launch. And a Firefox update fixes problems with Internet Explorer relating to IE's ability to launch other applications.
Notes from the field: Just what are the differences between working on a help desk and offering hot live chat of the naughty nature? Robert X. Cringely stumbled upon someone who used to be a phone sex operator but now runs a high-tech consultancy, and posed that very question. IT vs. phone sex, round three.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on July 18, 2007 11:10 AM
July 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Could it be? Shrink- wrapped SOA due from MS in September
Best of the blogs: "It's amazing to watch Microsoft continually be so clueless," begins Dave Rosenberg in this Open Sources post. "Shrinkwrapped SOA is oxymoronic minus the oxy." That's because SOA stacks are antithetical to the very nature of a loosely-coupled architecture. "Show me a stack vendor that allows for truly clean swapping of components with other vendors and I will eat my words."
From the feature well: Energy, its cost in particular, is changing the datacenter game. While virtualization and consolidation can help, "hidden energy costs await those who do not plan the layout of their virtualized datacenter wisely. And the chief culprit is heat," explains Paul Venezia in The cool new look in datacenter design. "The killing-flies-with-a-shotgun approach to cooling and powering the datacenter has been banished to the history books along with the 85-cent gallon of gas. Retrofitting existing datacenters is never easy or inexpensive, but in this case, the benefits are immediate." Related: APC instruments mark the rebirth of cool.
The news beat: IBM buys DataMirror to get its real-time data integration software, which Big Blue plans to sell stand-alone and include in its own Information Server. Verizon unveils what it calls Integrated Optical Service that enables companies to tie in Ethernet service. And open source JBoss Rules gain speed.
Notes from the field: Dell just might turn itself around by engaging in new and provocative side businesses, Robert X. Cringely reports. One reader, you see tells Cringe in Dell's hot new line of business that, "when he said he wanted a laptop, Dell must have thought he asked for a lapdance." The confusion came during a call to tech support, of course.
Posted by Tom Sullivan on July 16, 2007 10:48 AM
July 12, 2007 | Comments: (0)