Latest News from SOA World Magazine

Cloud Computing & SOA: Getting the Links Straight Between Them

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:15:00 EDT

Want to know what gets my blood pressure up? It’s when there’s both a huge shift in thinking around how we should do computing, namely cloud computing, and at the same time, there’s a bunch of information out there that causes confusion. As cloud computing hype spikes to a frenzy, so does the number of less-than-intelligent things that I hear about it and its relationship to SOA.

Oracle 11g Fusion Middleware LiveBlogging and News Analysis

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:30:00 EDT

So what does this say about Oracle's strategy for forming SNORKEL, the Sun acquisition? Well, at the risk of reductio ad absurdum, having bought BEA and Sun, Larry Ellison sees Java as the new SQL

Entry-Level Data Warehouse Appliance

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EDT

Aster is seeking to level the playing field on the data warehousing entry front, and that message should resonate well with companies that need an entry-level solution that doesn’t compromise on power. Aster – and it won’t be alone -- clearly sees a sweet spot with companies that are value-conscious and growth-minded.

Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Launched

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:30:00 EDT

Today is the day we officially launch Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g. The major areas of investment have been the completion of the integration between Oracle and BEA products into unified suites. This matches to the month the schedule that we had committed to publicly when announcing the BEA Strategy last June. This continues our excellent track record of buying best-of-breed software and integrating it together into a common environment.

SOA in the Cloud: The Cloud of Services

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:15:00 EDT

This is a blog about the importance of cloud solutions that are organized as services. As more and more cloud computing offerings hit the market, I think it is becoming increasingly important that users understand what to look for in such solutions. It is one thing to provide something called a cloud solution, but it is quite another to do so in a way that delivers the most value, flexibility, and agility to its users. However with so many different cloud solutions and vendors out there, what should users really be looking for?

What's the Best Definition of SOA?

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:15:00 EDT

It seems that I am not as flexible as I believed I could be on my thinking regarding SOA. I attempted to categorize various SOA engagements in my SYS-CON article entitled A Classification Scheme for Defining SOA, I believed that I could hide my dissatisfaction with the lack of clarity surrounding SOA by lumping SODA/application development into its own subcategory. I was wrong! When it comes down to it, there's still just too much ambiguity surrounding the term service.

PTO Complains of Revenue Shortfall

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:45:00 EDT

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which has complained for years about being “patently” overburdened, now complains that its patent revenues are coming up short because of the recession. Collections that came to $6.9 million a day in January and February, according to Reuters, fell to $6.4 million a day in April and May and $5.9 million a day last week.

IT Financial Management Solutions Provide Visibility into Total Operations

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:15:00 EDT

You can't well fix what you can't well measure. And so the true cost -- and benefits -- of complex and often sprawling IT portfolios too often remain a mystery, shrouded by outdated and often manual IT tracking and inventory tasks.

SYS-CON White Paper: SFA Buyer's Guide

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EDT

The right SFA solution can be an enormous benefit to your company's sales reps, as it can help them automate operations, eliminate errors, and forecast revenues. But, as is the case with any technology, you need to consider several important factors to make sure you end up with a solution that fits your organization's needs. Inside CRM's SFA Buyer's Guide has all the advice you need to make a winning decision.

The New Global Cyber Cold War

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:15:00 EDT

There have been some rather dramatic moves in the world of cyber warfare over the last couple weeks which has brought the need to for standardized interoperability & cooperation within multinational cyber defense systems to the forefront.

SYS-CON White Paper: Buyer's Guide: Managed Hosting Services

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:30:00 EDT

Do you know what to ask before you buy? This step-by-step guide includes important decision-making considerations such as features, benefits and costs across some of the top managed hosting solution providers and vendors. Get industry insight on: Managed hosting market overview, Vendor services and features, Pricing and costs, and "What To Ask Before You Buy" checklist.

CA Presents at "SOA in the Cloud Expo" in New York City

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:45:00 EDT

"Application Performance Management enables you to prioritize your problem list." So stated Janelle Shaw, Principal Consultant for Application Performance Management solutions at CA Wily Technology, at the 15th International SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East held June 22-23, 2009, in New York.

Intel Inside Nearly Eighty Percent of the World’s Fastest Supercomputers

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:04:00 EDT

More supercomputers than ever are using Intel Corporation processors, according to the latest TOP500 list. The high performance computing (HPC) community is especially enthusiastic about the Intel® Xeon® 5500 processor series. Launched only 3 months ago these chips are already driving the research and analytical capabilities of 33 systems on the list.

"SOA in the Cloud Expo" 2009 New York Photo Album

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:00:00 EDT

SYS-CON's SOA World Conference & Expo, colocated with AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo, held on June 22-23, 2009, in New York City, featured parallel content-rich tracks reflecting the worldwide adoption of the distributed computing paradigm, in which web services are deployed through specific service-oriented architectures.

Secret to Advancing "SOA in the Cloud"

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:30:00 EDT

At the 15th International SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East, which opened Monday in New York City, Sean Valcamp discussed how in today’s business world, measuring your success is a must especially in our current economic climate. It’s something we do as individuals, teams, and companies. But, with the drive to advance SOA, tying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to your SOA strategy can get lost in the complexity and rush to move your projects forward.

SOA & Cloud Computing To Intersect This Week at SOA World

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:45:00 EDT

Federal IT organizations across the DoD and IC are facing costly data storage and data processing challenges stemming from the vast amount of information they collect and analyze as a part of their mission. To effectively organize and utilize these growing information stores, enterprise applications must be capable of performing large-scale, data-intensive processing. Federal enterprise infrastructures supporting such applications are often inadequate to address these challenges, and IT organizations incur lost time and greater costs trying to scale resources to meet storage and computing demand.

Disney Brands a Netbook

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:15:00 EDT

It had to happen. Only the timing seems a bit off because of the recession. But there’s gonna be a Disney netbook, a “Netpal” for 6–12 year-olds, made by netbook pioneer Asustek and selling for $350 at Toys “R” Us starting in late July. A version with more storage and a longer battery will go through Amazon.com and other retailers. The widget should go international by the end of the year.

Cloud Computing Unleashes the Potential of SOA -Mezeo Chairman

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:30:00 EDT

The concept of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has been around for a long time, and some people believe it has not fulfilled its promise. To the contrary, SOA is well on its way to fulfilling its promise and the rise of cloud computing infrastructure is an important step in this process. In fact, cloud computing is already beginning to unleash the potential of SOA and much more is on the way.

Music and SOA: Theory and Practice

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:53:00 EDT

The deconstructed, loosely coupled yet unified musical principles of Anton Webern about a century ago bear an eerie resemblance to what SOA practictioners are doing today with enterprise IT.

Layer 7 Technologies to Present at SOA World Conference in NYC

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:00:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that K. Scott Morrison, Chief Architect of Layer 7 Technologies, will be presenting at the upcoming SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East (www.soaworld2009.com) June 22-23, 2009, in New York City. His session will be entitled “How to Fail at SOA." K. Scott Morrison is the Chief Architect at Layer 7 Technologies, where he works to scale, simplify and secure Web applications. He has extensive IT and scientific experience in a number of industries, was previously Director of Technology at Infowave Software, and has also held senior architect positions at IBM.

Maxworks To Exhibit at SOA World Conference & Expo, June 22-23, New York

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:45:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that Maxworks to exhibit at the upcoming SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East. The 15th International SOA World Conference will take place June 22-23, 2009, in New York City. Maxworks is a leading opensource SOA Solutions Provider. Maxworks combines Java, opensource technologies, service oriented architecture (SOA) and Incremental delivery methods to produce solutions for our clients.The company's SOA solutions realize high value business synergies that run on license free Opensource middleware. Incremental delivery of SOA solutions reduces software development risks. Maxworks' SOA Road Map, Training, and Software Development services used in concert, can help clients overcome the overhead caused by SOA.

SOA World Expo: Managed Methods Announces JaxView 5.0

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:00:00 EDT

Boulder, CO. Managed Methods Inc. (www.managedmethods.com ) the leader in SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) visibility and SOA runtime governance today announced the availability of their SOA management and runtime governance product JaxView 5.0. While providing full support for SOA and Web service management for the IT operations, JaxView 5.0 expanded runtime policy enforcement features such as expanded service virtualization and visibility into intra-container message communication.

Intel Named “Gold Sponsor” of SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:00:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that Intel was named "Gold Sponsor" of the upcoming SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East. The 15th International SOA World Conference will take place June 22-23, 2009, in New York City. Intel’s SOA Products Group offers SOA Expressway – a soft appliance deployed to address common XML and SOA problems such as acceleration, security, service mediation and service governance.

CA Named “Gold Sponsor” of SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:30:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that CA was named "Gold Sponsor" of the upcoming SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East. The 15th International SOA World Conference will take place June 22-23, 2009, in New York City. CA is the world's leading independent information technology (IT) management software company. We help companies manage IT to better perform, compete, innovate and grow their businesses. With our Enterprise IT Management (EITM) vision and technology, customers can unify IT and simplify the management of complex computing environments.

OPNET Technologies To Exhibit at SOA World Conference & Expo in NYC

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that OPNET Technologies to exhibit at the upcoming SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East. The 15th International SOA World Conference, colocated with AJAX World RIA Conference & Expo 2009 East, will take place June 22-23, 2009, in New York City. OPNET Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of SOA solutions for managing applications and networks.

Denodo Technologies Named “Silver Sponsor” of SOA World Conference

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:45:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that Denodo Technologies was named "Silver Sponsor" of the upcoming SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East. The 15th International SOA World Conference will take place June 22-23, 2009, in New York City. Denodo, the recognized innovator of Enterprise Data Mashup (EDM) software, delivers a single platform that combines data integration and web process automation to enable real-

Managed Methods To Exhibit at SOA World Conference June 22-23, New York

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:30:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that Managed Methods to exhibit at the upcoming SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East. The 15th International SOA World Conference will take place June 22-23, 2009, in New York City. Managed Methods provides Web services management and runtime SOA governance solutions focused on the needs of IT operations. We draw on over ten years of system management experience to build products that fit the dynamic pace and requirements of production IT environments

SOA & Cloud Bootcamp: Comparing Cloud Computing Providers

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:45:00 EDT

If your business relies on the speedy resolution of an issue from your cloud provider, then test them before you try. Send them that email out-of-hours to see how quickly and how useful the reply actually is. Try and reach someone on the phone. Look around the forums to see how many questions are left unanswered.

My Heart's Not Into SOA Marketing

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:45:00 EDT

I've been debating this post with myself for a long time. All the voices in my head have contributed to the dialog. It has to do with my health, with my future, and with my relevance. I'm not famous enough, even to my friends, to think I'm making a public statement here. But I plow on with it. I wrote the headline for this post with google in mind. Gotta get "SOA" in there for it to be picked up. The head is also a pun, as it relates to my health, which is the real topic of this post.

A Multi-Core Optimized Software Appliance

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:00:00 EDT

In the enterprise IT environment today, modern middleware technologies make it easier to expose existing or new business applications as sets of services. However, with the mashup of cloud-based services and enterprise data center services, the visibility of how a service created today will be used in the future gets murkier.

Fujitsu to Streamline Cloud Computing and SOA

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Fujitsu Laboratories of America announced Xurch, a new Web search browser plug-in that makes Web searching easier. Once users install the Xurch plug-in into a Firefox(R) or Internet Explorer(R) browser, a "Xurch Cloud" appears when performing searches on a growing number of search engines and popular websites. The Xurch Cloud box, or tag cloud(1), provides users with suggested words for refining their searches, letting them quickly iterate through several refinements and zero in on the information they are looking for.

More SOA Transition Bang for Your IT Bucks

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:15:00 EDT

This article explains how an Open Source SOA Roadmap can use a typical Web application project’s funding as the basis for a successful SOA transition effort. It is the first of three articles that explains how open source technologies and techniques can be leveraged to successfully deliver SOA solutions given the current economic downturn.

Bringing Cloud Computing to SOA

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EDT

There’s no shortage of opinions on how cloud computing and SOA are related. Just plug the phrase into your favorite search engine and you’ll have a day’s worth of reading. What you are likely to find are articles discussing how SOA led to cloud computing, how a good SOA is a prerequisite to leverage cloud computing, or how to leverage cloud computing in your SOA.

Intel Enables Thin-But-Not-Pricey Laptops

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:00:00 EDT

Really thin laptops are pricey and little netbooks are dumb. That leaves a space in the middle that Intel – in a money-generating segmentation exercise – means to fill with low-cost, skinny, full-featured hybrids” that are a cross between the two species. Intel is predicting that the hybrid widgets will account for 20% of the consumer PC market by Q4.

Supreme Court to Hear Bilski Appeal

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:15:00 EDT

The U.S. Supreme Court is going to hear the Bilski business methods patent appeal in December. A district court and then the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit en banc threw out the so-called State Street test for patentability when they said that a method of hedging risks in commodities trading could not be patented and reiterated the old machine-or-transformation test as a patent threshold. The case has implication for the software business and so has been carefully watched.

Intel Buys Wind River $884m

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:15:00 EDT

Intel is buying Wind River for roughly $884 million in cash, $11.50 a share, a 44% premium. The move into software will give Intel VxWorks, Wind River’s proprietary and multi-core-ready RTOS, and its commercial-grade Linux operating system as well as its middleware and software design and device testing tools.

SOA World Expo: Leveraging Process Configuration in the Context of SOA

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:30:00 EDT

The value of service-oriented architecture (SOA) is the concept of agility, or the ability to limit risk by managing change. Today, many enterprises are fighting to make this a reality, yet few approach SOA using the right methodologies and technology, and most have yet to define the real value of SOA and agility.

Test Drive e.Spreadsheet Report Designer

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:45:00 EDT

e.Spreadsheet Report Designer from Actuate is a free, easy-to-use report writing tool for creating authentic Excel files and reports that retain formulas, formatting, live charts and data connections.

SYS-CON White Paper: TowerGroup 2009 Predictions

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:15:00 EDT

This report provides critical tips for building a long-term customer retention strategies and maintaining growth in a tough economic environment.

Eight Gates to Great SOA

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:00:00 EDT

While there’s certainly no shortage of opinions on the future of SOA, the reality is that SOA is very much alive. The core principles of what SOA can do in terms of cost savings, increased productivity, and the virtual elimination of information and application silos won’t go away. However, the term “SOA” will likely evolve into something else, as it becomes more and more a part of the computing landscape.

TIBCO Debuts Silver Cloud

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:00:00 EDT

TIBCO's take on PaaS is notable for its emphasis on global 2000 enterprises, with a target on custom business applications, and with a largely automated means to integrate cloud applications and processes with on-premises IT resources and data.

The Case for Single-Purpose Services

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:00:00 EDT

Justifying the extra investment for developing a single-purpose service – a service expected to solve only one large business problem - instead of putting the single-purpose logic inside a non-service-oriented application can be challenging. Reuse, the most popular motivation for creating services, will not apply. So where's the business case? Acceptable justifications can include: enabling support for multiple providers, isolating logic from change, centralizing IT-support for a given business process, service composition optimization, and separation of concerns. Although performance is commonly referenced as a reason to not create services, that line of thought is not always valid. With the help of patterns referenced from the recently published SOA Design Patterns book [REF-1] and the soapatterns.org site [REF-17], this article will delve into these issues as we explore the case for the single-purpose service.

WS-I Announces New Members

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:15:00 EDT

The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I; http://www.ws-i.org) today announced four new members at the Contributing level: Booz Allen Hamilton (http://www.boozallen.com/), Eviware (http://www.eviware.com/), GBO.Overheid (http://gbo.overheid.nl/english/) and Schneider Electric (http://www.schneider-electric.com/). WS-I is an open industry organization chartered to establish and document Best Practices for Web Services interoperability.

Google, Yahoo, Apple, Others Probed for Big Hiring No-No: Report

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:15:00 EDT

Google, Yahoo, Apple and other big high-tech firms are under investigation by the Justice Department for “negotiating the recruiting and hiring of one another’s employees,” according to the Washington Post. That’s collusion and a nasty antitrust problem for them if true. The paper, which quotes an unnamed source and gives no details, calls the probe “industry-wide.”

Improving the Efficiency of SOA-Based Applications

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:30:00 EDT

According to Moore’s Law, processing speed and storage capacity have been doubling about every two years since the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958. Yet it seems that our propensity for building larger more complex software systems that anticipate these improvements inevitably outpace the exponential growth in capacity to support these systems.

The Future of SOA

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:30:00 EDT

As consumers we are accustomed to the end-user experience of the Internet. With HTTP and XML, you don’t need to have a specific application on your computer to make use of external data – you can just open a browser window and do a search or visit a particular Web site to find the information you need.

Service Virtualization in Enterprise Application Development

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:00:00 EDT

Many large organizations are in the process of adopting hardware virtualization technology for the development of their dynamic enterprise applications. However, hardware virtualization is not appropriate or feasible in all circumstances, and by focusing solely on hardware virtualization we could be leaving opportunities to save significant time and money on the table.

TopQuadrant Helps NASA Launch the Constellation Program

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:15:00 EDT

TopQuadrant has announced that NASA is using the TopBraid Suite 3.0 Semantic application platform to model, organize, integrate and exchange data within and across the NASA Constellation Program. NASA's use of TopBraid Suite represents a significant commitment to developing and applying a Semantic data architecture in the full 'engineering-through-operations' lifecycle as a means of achieving the Constellation Program's ambitious planetary exploration goals under NASA's affordability, sustainability and evolveability mandates.

Differentiating the Application Network from the Network

Sun, 31 May 2009 07:45:00 EDT

There is a tendency to describe every device on a network as simply “the network” regardless of whether that device is dedicated to security, or application delivery (layer 4-7), or actual network (layer 2-3) functionality. It’s an artifact of aging data center architecture models that there exists an artificial line of demarcation between web and application servers and everything else.

It Can’t Get Much Worst for Servers than Q1: IDC

Fri, 29 May 2009 14:00:00 EDT

As Lot’s wife found out, looking back can be nasty and Q1 was very nasty for servers according to IDC. Server revenue worldwide dropped 24.5% year-over-year to $9.9 billion in the first quarter, it says, the worst showing in the 12 years the researcher has been keeping count. It was also the third quarter of year-over-year revenue decline in a row.