core services

Will SOA help or hinder the alignment of business and IT?

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:01:38 -0500

Theoretically, a company's business culture can benefit from absorbing the principles of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture), a conceptual approach to computing, people and processes. Whether it will succeed, however, depends in large part on corporate culture and the type of management structure already in place. For example, SOA might be particularly useful in a tightly organized and centralized corporate environment, since it can promote more unified IT methods, with high reuse and standardized ways to assemble and provide services. Decentralized organizations that value innovation also can benefit from SOA. Core services can be made available to units, or each unit can acquire and create processes geared toward their specific needs. The best way to ensure success of SOA in the enterprise is for companies to understand their own cultures.

Learn more about whether your company will succeed with SOA:
- read the article at RedmondDeveloper

Related articles on SOA:
- for the basics on SOA, read this
- for more on whether SOA will work in your environment, read this
- for the four stages of successful SOA, read this
- for a case study on SOA, read this
- for information on using SOA to boost e-commerce efforts, read this

XML flaw a risk in new IE version

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 19:01:38 -0500

Yesterday's Patch Tuesday brought fixes for Windows, including one deemed "critical," which was tied to Microsoft's XML Core Services components. The flaw also poses a risk for users of Internet Explorer 7, which Microsoft recently began rolling out through its Automatic Update service. All of Microsoft's customers are expected to have the new browser by year's end. Analysts recommend that everyone upgrade to the new version, due to enhanced security provisions.

For more on the patch, IE news:
- check out the article at BPM Today

New ActiveX flaw discovered

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:01:37 -0500

There's a new concern about Microsoft's ActiveX control, as a security flaw could allow hackers to gain remote control of a PC. According to a Microsoft advisory report late last week, the flaw allows for limited attacks, though one security vendor claims that the issue is critical. The attack occurs when a user is led to a malicious site and the flaw only exists in certain, patched versions of Windows running Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0. The affected versions are Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 and Windows XP Service Pack 2.

For more on the ActiveX issue:
- check out the blog post at CSO online