architectures

Why CIOs should watch Hewlett-Packard

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:01:37 -0400

According to Paul A. Strassmann, Distinguished Professor of Information Sciences at George Mason University's School of Information Technology and Engineering, HP has finally overtaken IBM as the top I.T. vendor. Strassman, a columnist for Baseline and president of The Information Economics Press, as well as a senior advisor to Science Applications International, says that the number 1 IT vendor is now extending its reach by promising to meet the demands for Web-based architectures and data warehouses. HP's ascension was not a dramatic, publicity-fueled moon shot. Its gains in market share, particularly against firms like IBM and Dell, were achieved in small, steady increments. The way HP has risen, and the economic models that it has adopted, offer a useful lesson for CIOs.

For more of Strassman's thoughts on HP:
- read the analysis in this Baseline Article

Distinguishing between data and apps for SOA

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:01:38 -0400

One of the biggest challenges that Services Oriented Architectures pose for enterprise architects is managing the behavior of data and applications as they mix and match across the servers and virtual machines of next generation infrastructures. Ron Schmelzer of ZapThink, an SOA market research firm, tells InformationWeek that when a set of applications performs functions isolated as an independent service, the results can look a lot like data as they're passed off to another application. Likewise, a query to a service that triggers a stored procedure in the database yields results that look a lot like an outcome of application logic. In services, data ceases to exist as something distinct from the application logic.

For more on how enterprises are keeping track of apps and data:
- check out this InformationWeek article

ITIL v3: Ready for release this week

Mon, 28 May 2007 20:01:39 -0400

The latest version of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, a framework for IT best practices, gets released tomorrow. The framework, developed by the U.K. government, is taking hold with American companies that are implementing Services Oriented Architectures, hoping to reap the benefits of greater efficiency, cost savings and increased customer satisfaction. According to the experts, the latest version will focus on facilitating and measuring business outcomes. The new ITIL release provides in-depth guidance on business issues like asset lifecycle management and return on investment analysis, Sharon Taylor, chief architect of ITIL v3, told Baseline magazine. And don't fret if you're already an expert on version 2: according to analysts, version 3 is a natural progression from the previous version.

For all the details on ITIL version 3:
- see this article from Baseline Magazine

Effective SOA governance

Sun, 13 May 2007 20:01:39 -0400

Most organizations start down the road to a service-oriented architecture with a pilot project, but it's a long way from the success of an isolated SOA project to a major initiative that spans departments. Moving beyond the pilot means involving more cultures, and that changes everything. It's not the technical parts of a major IT initiative that are the most difficult, it's the economics and politics--which is where good governance starts. Governance deals with patterns of interaction, acceptable standards, and the creation of communication channels. Done right, governance also aligns the incentives in the organization with the goals of SOA and sets up SOA support structures. Don't think of SOA governance in terms of project planning and funding, but rather, in terms of technical governance--policies, interoperability frameworks, and reference architectures. The most important thing to get right in the governance process is to establish the communication patterns that will create, approve, and propagate these artifacts. That involves using the appropriate governance tool at every phase. And the enforcement mechanisms you build into governance are crucial. Finally, the governance process you create must match the culture of your organization.

Learn more about SOA and governance:
- read the article at CIO Canada

ALSO:
- read this on SOA governance
- this about taking it slow with SOA deployments
- this on the four stages of successful SOA
- this on getting started with SOA
- and this on getting the most out of SOA

The march of the botnets

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Botnets, networks of hundreds or even thousands of infected machines, aren't going away anytime soon. They can be used to wreak real havoc, including spamming and theft of financial and identity-related data, but they are capable of much more. They are on the brink of a technological leap to more resilient architectures and more sophisticated encryption that includes peer-to-peer networks that will make it much harder to track, monitor and disable them. With a P2P botnet, there is no centralized point for command and control. Each node in the network acts as both client and server, eliminating the central chokepoint. Individual nodes can be knocked offline, but the gaps in the network will be closed without the loss affecting the botnet's operation or the attacker's control. One of the most efficient ways for enterprises to address the bot problem is to blacklist malicious sites and hosts and block access to them. Botnet watchers are also seeing a trend toward stronger encryption, which is used by attackers to ensure that bots added to the network are in fact legitimate, as opposed to being nodes belonging to researchers working to infiltrate a botnet and block it or take it down.

Read more about the threat of botnets:
- read the article at eWeek

ALSO: read this on how trojans bolster botnet powers

Integrating Service-Oriented IT and Infrastructure as a Service

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Now that applications developers and IT operations have embraced service-oriented delivery, the next IT area ripe for a service-orientated overhaul is infrastructure, including equipment, facilities and management systems. Traditionally, integration between these elements has been limited, as the form factor for computing has remained mostly static. But if IT infrastructure elements could be integrated and the functions of those elements could be delivered over a network connection, the result would be enterprise IT functions that are more responsive, cost-effective, manageable, reliable, secure and compliant. This is possible today because of the maturation of virtualization technology, integrated functional management systems and best practices architectures and frameworks. The IT infrastructure as a service model presents a compelling alternative to conventional approaches such as "do-it-yourself," which often requires high up-front capital expenditures and long lead times, and traditional outsourcing, which can be difficult to manage and scale.

Learn more about infrastructure as a service:
- read the column at CIO

Study: Digital information explodes

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 19:01:39 -0500

According to a new white paper from International Data, the amount of digital information created by 2006 was equal to about 3 million times the information on all books ever written, and between 2006 and 2010, the information added annually to the digital universe will increase from 161 exabytes to 988 exabytes. Fueling this are three major analog-to-digital conversions: film to digital image capture, analog to digital voice, and analog to digital TV. IDC predicts that by 2010, while nearly 70 percent of the digital universe will be created by individuals, organizations will be responsible for the security, privacy, reliability, and compliance of at least 85 percent of that same digital universe. This rapidly expanding responsibility will put pressure on existing computing operations and drive organizations to develop more information-centric computing architectures. As a result, CIOs and IT managers will see the span of their domains increase exponentially, while information security and privacy protection will become a significant boardroom concern.

To learn more about the impact of data growth on IT departments:
- read this ComputerWeekly article

The 7 trends to watch in 2007

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 19:01:35 -0500

It's of little surprise that data retention and knowledge management will be areas of primary focus for the next few years, given how valuable data is in the enterprise. A big part of that, according to industry experts, making sure critical employee and staff knowledge is retained given the impending baby boomer retirement wave. In addition, business agility, electronic record keeping and knocking down IT silos are also big priorities for the new year. On the tech side of things, companies will be looking to revamp architectures (think SOA) and bring on tools that boost collaboration.

For more on the top trends to keep an eye on:
- read the story at Network Computing

ALSO NOTED: India boosts its police skills to fight cyber criminals; Hackers setting their sights on Bluetooth; and much more..

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 19:01:33 -0500

> India boosts its police skills to fight cyber criminals. Article

> Hackers setting their sights on Bluetooth. Article

> Why the negotiating pendulum is swinging in new hires' favor these days. Article

> The reasons new architectures are gaining in popularity. Article

And Finally... Some training tools for the brain. Article