SOA

SOA helps veterans get jobs

Judi Hasson — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:10:04 -0400

A small start-up called Hire a Hero has decided to use technology for a good cause--helping soldiers leaving the military to get jobs. The effort centers on connecting the vets with potential employers using Web 2.0 social networking tools. CIO.com reports that after some ups and downs, the company found a solution built on service-oriented architecture (SOA) that enabled it to achieve its goals at a low cost, with vendors donating some services because the company has gained non-profit status.

Brac Selph, the executive director of Hire a Hero, said their system helps organize information about employees and potential employers, allowing both to enter information about themselves while providing a social networking functionality.

By adopting and adjusting the service-oriented architecture, Selph said his four-person company can communicate across different data sources and make the system fit its needs. His experience also provides a guide to using a services model to increase efficiency and cut costs.

For more on tech and heros:
- see this CIO.com article

Gartner: Better BI tools on the way

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

A new Gartner study finds that the role of corporate IT units in business intelligence will be shrinking. In its place, search and collaboration tools will allow individual users and business units to build their own analytical applications, according to the study released last week. Gartner said that it expects this change to occur by 2012. By then, users will turn to interactive visualization, in-memory analytics, search integrated with BI, Software as a service and service-oriented architectures to build their own reports. Search and collaboration tools, probably off-the-shelf, will allow individual users and business units to build their own applications. "Evidence suggests that BI is used aggressively by just 15-20 percent of business users," said Kurt Schlegel, an analyst at Gartner, in a statement. "For the BI sector to thrive, it needs to overcome the fact that most business users feel BI tools are hard to use." And we bet that BI tools will get much cheaper, too.

For more on BI tools to come:
- See this ComputerWorld article

Get ready for a tough New Year

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:00:00 -0500

CIOs must get ready for 2008. The seas are shifting, and what was hot in 2007 might be cooling off in 2008. There are plenty of challenges ahead for the New Year, starting with the demand to integrate IT into every business decision and do it with speed, not taking the time to ponder action versus inaction. "Businesses are calling for more flexible responses, and an IT infrastructure that will allow IT to respond more quickly to changing business requirements and needs," said Andrew Bartels, a research analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. "Businesses need to be able to be more nimble and react more quickly, and CIOs will be looking for technologies that allow IT to do that."

It is a challenging time amid predictions that the IT market may be cooling, and CIOs, as well as other IT executives, will be asked to do more with less money. But stay alert. There are plenty of tools to help you out, and lots of ways to bring home the bacon using your savvy and IT smarts. Bartels says that CIOs must pay attention to the foundation technologies that bring adaptability to their company and lead the way for the next generation of technology. Some new processes--like service oriented architecture--are already in place to help CIOs get keep up-to-speed.

"People don't even talk SOA anymore because they're doing it," said Kavin Moody, executive director of the Center for Information Management Studies at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. Remember that collaborative technologies save money, too. And keep in mind that there is no reason to keep a legacy system running parallel to a new technology unless you absolutely have to. There's an old saying that fits right into this. A penny saved is a penny earned. Or more to the point, technology reevaluated and revalued can help you maintain a bottom line in the black. Happy New Year. -Judi

FierceCIO will not be publishing next week, in observance of the holidays. We'll return on Thursday, January 3rd. Happy Holidays!

ALSO NOTED: Gaming industry discovers SOA; Take a tech quiz from InfoWorld;

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:59:58 -0500

> Gaming industry discovers SOA. Article
> Take a tech quiz from InfoWorld. Article
> 10 signs you aren't ready for prime time. Article
> Wanted: CIOs in Tampa, Fla. Article
> Cyber-Monday was a very good day. Article
> Intelligent transportation systems on rise. Article
> Feds to push green IT. Article

And Finally... Clumsy presidential candidates tackle the web. Article

SOA: flexibility at the expense of control?

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 06:59:58 -0400

SOA may be offering CIOs new levels of flexibility, but many are also expressing worries about a loss of control over applications that are managed and perhaps even deployed outside of the IT environment. According to Paul Patrick, chief architect at BEA Systems, one of the big challenges with SOA is losing control over the company's applications and IT processes while determining how much leeway to give business groups. The key is to absorb the capabilities of SOA while maintaining strong IT governance.

For more advice on starting an SOA implementation:
- see the article in Baseline

Survey: SOA missing the mark

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:59:58 -0400

One of the problems with hyping a new technology (like SOA) as a silver bullet solution for complex problems--especially in the IT arena--is that the reality can be disappointing for some. That's one of the main take-home points from a survey recently conducted by InformationWeek. Respondents reported that a high percentage of SOA projects are not meeting expectations. While ten percent of respondents say that SOA/Web services have exceeded their companies' expectations, and 58 percent say that they've met expectations, some 32 percent say that the technology has fallen short of expectations. The pressure on SOA to succeed in the enterprise is high for most organizations--so when people find SOA underwhelming, they can get pretty specific about their complaints: 58 percent of those who were dissatisfied said that SOA introduced more complexity into their IT systems rather than resolving it; 30 percent found SOA to cost more than they expected.

For the full results of SOA survey:
- read the article in InformationWeek

SaaS-based security gets some buzz

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

Executives are learning that security technologies delivered via the SaaS (software-as-a-service) business model are proving to be a big success. Imperial Chemical Industries--a London-based maker of paints and chemicals, which is in the process of being acquired by industrial conglomerate Akzo Nobel for $16 billion--is engaged In a focused effort to secure its assets and data. The company is using SaaS applications--like vulnerability scanning tools, email and spam filtering and Web filtering. "We're pushing the envelope in terms of what's out there with security SaaS, but so far, it's been a fantastic success," Paul Simmonds, global information security director at ICI, told Infoworld. Still, he says that not all security applications should be offered using a SaaS model, including security tools like NAC systems and endpoint-oriented products.

For more on delivering security tech through SaaS:
- read the article in Infoworld

ALSO NOTED: Silicon Valley start-up asks FCC to decide on free WiFi; SOA adoption rates exaggerated, report says;

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

> Silicon Valley start-up asks FCC to decide on free WiFi. Article

> SOA adoption rates exaggerated, report says. Article

> 1.6M records stolen from Monster.com. Article

> What's the first thing CIOs should do after getting the job? Blog

> Windows Home Server coming soon. Article

And finally... Typos and misleading information in spreadsheets can cost millions. Here's a look at the worst of the worst mistakes. Oops. Article

Virtualization emerging as key to SOA

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Virtualization is shaping up to be a key element in the successful deployment of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) strategies, according to an analysis in eWeek. As organizations harness SOA to break down silos of automation and tap into legacy systems, experts like David Greschler, director of integrated virtualization strategy at Microsoft, believe that virtualization provides a way for all the pieces of IT the infrastructure--applications, operating systems, presentation layers, virtual machines, and storage and network devices--to be separated from each other and then put back so that all the elements can work together as a whole. But many organizations are missing the opportunity to leverage virtualization SOA because the architects active in both environments are not talking to each other. Those channels of communication however, are beginning to open, says Jason Bloomberg, an analyst with market research firm ZapThink.

For more on SOA implementation:
- read more in eWeek. Article

Keeping your eyes on the SOA prize

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:01:40 -0400

It is easy to get lost in the hype of SOA. After all, the concept makes so much sense. But despite the promise and sex appeal of SOA, CIOs would be well advised to keep their wits about them. As CIO Insight reports, many senior IT execs are finding it difficult to reap the cost benefits that they expect from their SOA investments. The reason very likely lies with the sheer complexity that SOA introduces as it collapses the silos of automation that have festered for years, if not decades, in some enterprises. InformationWeek explored just a few of the issues associated with keeping track of how applications and data move through the enterprise computing environment. The message to CIOs is clear: when all is said and done, the dollars and cents imperatives of a project will trump the bits and bytes performance of the technology. Speaking of dollars and cents, in our management section today, four CIOs weigh in on the importance of customer-facing product development and how best to bring more revenue into your company. Enjoy the issue. -Patty