SOA Management

Recommendations for Using Hard Drive Data Recovery Software

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST

Hard drive logical failure and data loss is a very common situation. It might occur due to numerous reasons that include file system corruption, virus infection, hard drive formatting, operating system malfunction, accidental deletion and other similar reasons. There exists data recovery software, which are able to help you get your missing, lost or inaccessible data from logically damaged storage media. It doesn't matter whether the storage media is hard drive, CD, DVD, USB drive and many others.

The Four Stages of SOA Governance

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:45:00 EST

For several years now, ZapThink has spoken about SOA Governance "in the narrow" vs. SOA governance "in the broad." SOA governance in the narrow refers to governance of the SOA initiative, and focuses primarily on the Service lifecycle. When vendors try to sell you SOA governance gear, they're typically talking about SOA governance in the narrow. SOA governance in the broad, in contrast, refers to IT governance in the SOA context. In other words, how will SOA help with IT governance (and by extension, corporate governance) once your SOA initiative is up and running?

BI Gets Better with Managed Web Data Services

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:15:00 EDT

The more relevant and useful content that enters into BI tools, the more powerful the BI outcomes -- especially as we look outside the enterprise for fast shifting trends and business opportunities. That's what web data services can bring. As the recession forces the need to identify and evaluate new revenue sources, businesses need to capture such web data services for business intelligence (BI) to work better and fuller. In Part 1 of our web data series we discussed how external data has grown in both volume and importance across internal Internet, social networks, portals, and applications in recent years.

Tips for Efficient PaaS Application Design

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EDT

On yet another application review with a prospective client the issue of potentially troublesome data entity relationships came up. A number of our clients are existing QuickBase users who have made an initial attempt to design their applications and find that some assistance is needed. The first thing we look at to understand their application requirements are the data entity relationships.

Compuware Weighs in on Portfolio Management

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:30:00 EDT

One strong way to be on top of change is by employing IT portfolio management techniques, products, and processes. As IT budgets react to such change, leaders need to better understand how to manage such change holistically, and not have change manage them (or worse).

The Role of the CTO: Four Models for Success

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:45:00 EDT

One of my favorite examinations of the role of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is Tom Berray’s”Roles of the CTO: Four Models for Success. ” If you are an enterprise CTO or any technologist looking for career context I strongly recommend it to you for its situational awareness and context. Tom writes of CTOs in four [...] Related posts:

Three Virtualization Management Myths Busted

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:45:00 EDT

Virtualization promises significant dollar savings. Since reducing cost is perhaps the biggest goal in today’s corporate data centers, it’s no wonder that virtualization efforts are accelerating. So far it’s been easy to virtualize commodity servers that host less-critical utility applications. But after virtualizing all this “low hanging fruit,” IT now has to successfully virtualize higher-priority I/O intensive applications such as Exchange, SQL server, Oracle or SAP to improve its return on investment.

Modeling Service-Oriented Enterprise Architecture

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:15:00 EDT

How do you establish agile enterprise architecture? How can you rapidly develop and deploy applications to satisfy or even lead the market demand? Many enterprises are constructing and reorganizing the architecture using the concept of service-oriented architecture (SOA). However, we may all encounter some problems when applying SOA using some existing development processes and notations, such as object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD), enterprise architecture (EA) frameworks, and business process modeling (BPM).

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.

Cassatt-Made Internal Clouds Get Bigger

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EDT

Cassatt, which plays to the corporate fear of entrusting enterprise applications to external service providers, has updated its Active Response software. The stuff helps companies automate and transform existing data center resources into cloud-style computing environments using the heterogeneous virtual and physical IT resources that already exist inside their corporate firewalls – turning them into internal clouds.

Building a Modern SOA: Examining Offshoring All Over Again

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:30:00 EST

The word “offshoring” and its sibling “outsourcing” can provoke instant, righteous anger among some people, while being touted as a one-size-fits-all panacea by others. The recent decade or so of outsourcing and offshoring—particularly to India within the IT business—has generated copious case studies, best practices, and worst practices.

Optimizing the Benefits of EDM and SOA by Coordinating Strategies

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:00:00 EST

Organizations often pursue strategies for enterprise data management (EDM) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) as separate programs and initiatives. However, there are important overlapping and interdependent components, processes, and quality checkpoints in which coordination is necessary to ensure the success of either strategy.

Web Application Management

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:00:00 EST

From today's integrated J2EE applications through the emergence of service-oriented architectures (SOA), enterprise Web applications are becoming more complex, dynamic, and vital to business success. The payoff is huge, but so are the new risks that have materialized. IT teams have an increasing need for new management solutions that provide visibility, analysis, and control of all tiers – from the application runtime environment to data, and through to Web services and business processes.

Making the Case for Application Service Modeling in SOA Environments

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 07:45:00 EST

For most companies, employing the latest technology is vital to staying competitive. For some companies in fact, service orientation is a key pillar of business success. As the chief architect of a Fortune 100 company, my SOA challenges aren't small. A little more than a year into our SOA deployment project, we already have pure SOA applications running in our environment.

SOA World: The Road to SOA Performance

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST

Focusing your service-oriented architecture (SOA) performance management efforts on the application testing stage or attempting to manage production SOA applications solely with traditional point solutions and network management tools is a recipe for disaster, putting your customer's satisfaction and your company reputation on the line. Production SOA Performance and Service Level Agreement (SLA) management must be built into the overall SOA strategy.

The Case for Coordinated EDM and SOA Strategies

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 12:30:00 EST

Strategies for enterprise data management (EDM) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) are often pursued as separate, disparate programs and initiatives within organizations, both as a business requirement as well as an IT implementation perspective. However, there are important overlapping and interdependent components, processes, and quality checkpoints for each in which coordination is necessary to ensure the success of either strategy.

Creating an Effective SOA Service Taxonomy

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

It's hard to think about service-oriented architecture without thinking of services; after all, services are the main focus of SOA (it's even in the name). If service-oriented architecture is an approach where the business and technical architecture is oriented around services, then what exactly is a service? Unfortunately, the answer to this question varies greatly depending on whom you talk to and how you're using SOA in your organization.

SOA to the Rescue in Recession

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:00:00 EST

Many organizations out there don't really have to sell SOA. They understand that hype is the driver, and, in essence, leverage the thousands of articles and books on the topic to sell this architectural pattern. However, in most cases SOA has to be sold in the enterprise. If you're doing SOA right, you'll find that the cost quickly goes well into the millions, so you'll need executive approval for that kind of spending.

Is SOA Non-Trivial?

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:15:00 EDT

Have you ever wondered what makes for good SOA style services? Well, wonder no more. Good services must be reusable, contract based, composable, abstract, autonomous, extensible, discoverable, stateless, distributed, and manageable. You’ve most likely yawned over such lists before, and this exposition will probably be no different.

Latest Recession Proof Trends in SOA

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EDT

The concept of service-oriented architecture (SOA) has caused a profound shift in the worlds of business and technology, causing important changes that will stand the test of time in how millions of people think and work. However, I believe the practice of SOA is overdue for a paradigm shift – a shift of focus away from enterprise architectures and applications toward larger, fundamentally different problems that need to be solved in the space between enterprises – a problem/solution domain I call multi-enterprise SOA.

SOA World: Should You Fire Your CIO?

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:45:00 EDT

One of the things covered in the recent Burton report was an instance where a new CIO was needed to get SOA going. In essence, the culture needed to change in order to accommodate the changes required to get a SOA rolling, and thus they changed out their CIO to change the culture. If you think about that, it makes perfect sense.

How to Apply ITIL to SOA Operations Management

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:00:00 EDT

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) proposes a model of software as a distributed network of cooperating services, in contrast to the traditional, more monolithic application model. Operationally managing such applications requires a sophisticated management organisation and operating framework that are capable of defining and sustaining service levels to customers across the enterprise.

Data Services: Bridging the SOA and Metadata Management Gap

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:30:00 EDT

In today's difficult economic times, maximizing return on assets is a strategic imperative. Information assets are no exception. Service-oriented architecture (SOA), with its focus on agility and reuse, plays a critical role by accelerating development of new high-business-value applications from existing information assets.

Going Beyond Project-Driven SOA

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 EDT

We often say SOA is a discipline in enterprise architecture and if you want to get the most out of it, you have to approach SOA from business, architectural, organizational, and technological perspectives. However, most of the organizations we've worked with are taking a project-driven approach to SOA – namely, addressing tactical integration and composite application requirements with SOA tools. So where does this leave them?

What Happens When SOA and Virtualization Intersect?

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:00:00 EDT

Virtualization is a buzzword that is living up to its hype as it takes hold in IT. It has spawned magazine covers, conferences, and analyst reports, and all with good reason. Virtualization allows applications to be deployed in a highly efficient manner. By taking the physical servers out of the equation, virtualization allows applications to be deployed across a number of servers, or for multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on one server.

SOA Book Excerpt: The First-Class Constructs of SOA - Part 3

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:20:00 EDT

The specification phase helps design the details of the three first-class constructs of SOA: services, service components, and flows. It uses a combination of three high-level activities to determine which services to expose, provides a detailed specification for the exposed services, and specifies the flows (processes) and service components. The three activities are called service specification, subsystem analysis, and component specification.

Logging for SOA

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:00:00 EDT

What could be a problem with logging in SOA in the presence of such wonderful tools like log4j, Java’s logging library and similar? Why might we need something special for SOA and why aren’t existing techniques enough? The answer is simple and complex simultaneously – in SOA we are dealing with distributed and composed entities that cause problems in log maintenance, not in log creation.

SOA Book Excerpt: Service Oriented Modeling and Architecture - Part 2

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:15:00 EDT

Service Oriented Modeling and Architecture (SOMA) is a modeling and design technique developed by IBM that provides prescriptive steps for how to enable target business processes by defining and developing a service-based IT solution. SOMA provides the communication link between the business requirements and the IT solution. It provides guidance on how to use business model and information as inputs to derive and define a service-based IT model.

SOA Book Excerpt: A Methodology for Service Modeling and Design - Part 1

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:45:00 EDT

When the programming model shifted from the traditional procedural model to that of object-orientation, a major paradigm shift occurred in the world of IT development. The focus was on encapsulating the state and behavior of entities and calling that encapsulation a class. Instances of a class were called objects, which occupied some space in the memory.

Software Can Be 'Metered' Just Like Electricity with SOA Inside

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:00:00 EDT

Business application software and middleware vendors are addicted to exorbitant amounts of upfront money from perpetual licensing models to deliver their expected quarterly revenues. Enterprise software customers have no choice but to overspend absurd amounts of money on what business software is supposed to be as opposed to what it actually does for them.

Using Modeling to Improve the Management of SOA Initiatives

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:45:00 EDT

Without architecture, SOA is just a bunch of mashups that may or may not really solve an organization's issues. SOA is capturing attention around the world, but the task of creating and managing a truly service-oriented architecture can be elusive. Here we'll explore the creation and management of an enterprise-wide architecture that implements a company’s business plans through a comprehensive set of interconnected services.

Introducing SOA Design Patterns

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:15:00 EDT

Originally inspired by techniques used to design buildings and cities, and popularized by the Gang of Four during the mainstream emergence of object-orientation, design patterns have seen us through the various shifts in architecture, technology, and, of course, design. Pattern catalogs have periodically emerged, one building on the other, and each revealing a set of problem-solving techniques and providing invaluable insights as to how and when those techniques should be used to help us attain our design goals.

Choosing the Right Middleware Stack for Your SOA in Health Care

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT

When there are lots of solutions, choosing the right products to build your software is really challenging. Identifying the right combination of middleware products to build your SOA is key to its success. This article discusses an approach to using non-functional requirements in choosing these products, using SOA in health care as an example.

SOA or DOA

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:45:00 EDT

Web applications built on a service-oriented architecture (SOA) promise to greatly improve IT efficiency and business agility. SOA establishes data and protocol standards so that existing internal and third-party application modules or services can be reused and orchestrated into business applications.

Layer 7 Technologies Expands SOA Into Belgian Market

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Layer 7 Technologies announced its go-to-market partnership with Steria Benelux. Steria will act as a channel partner for Layer 7's SOA gateway products in Belgium to offer leading SOA security, governance solutions and support to its current and prospective customers.

Closing the Gap Between Business and IT

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:15:00 EST

Within any organization, communication between the core business operations and the IT group has traditionally been a challenging and adversarial relationship. Most miscommunications between the two groups result from misunderstandings related to software and other issues. Now the gap between the business IT layer is beginning to close.

Beyond SOA - What's Next?

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST

We've come pretty far with SOA. Gartner reports that 'SOA' is the most widely used search term on their Website. On Google, a search for 'SOA' turns up 6,750,000 matches. And all of us in IT probably have to wade through some discussion related to SOA on a daily basis. That's a pretty impressive level of awareness and mind share.

SYS-CON.TV Presents MetaMatrix SOA Webinar with Gartner's Roy Schulte

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 16:45:00 EDT

Roy Schulte, VP at Gartner and its research team leader for Application Integration and Middleware, discusses trends and practices for SOA in this brand-new webinar presented by MetaMatrix. In particular, Schulte underlines the important role being played by Data Services.

Spiral SOA Web Services Target Agility - Part II

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:00:00 EDT

While new business functionality traditionally requires multi-year development projects, SOA promises new functionality by orchestrating existing services into required business processes. Unfortunately, adoption of SOA is not practical in a single, enterprise-wide, 'big-bang' conversion.

Spiral SOA Web Services Target Agility - Part I

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 13:00:00 EDT