Succeeding with SOA: Topics

The Next Generation Application Platform

Multiple forces will fundamentally alter the platforms we use to build and operate application systems. It’s still unclear what the next generation application platform will look like. How will SOA, SaaS, and social software alter the picture? As monolithic applications are transformed into shared services, will we still think of applications in the same way? As new user interface technologies emerge, will that fundamentally change the way people interact with and execute business processes? Will the boundary between productivity applications and business applications finally fade? This topic will address the following questions:

• Is Java the new COBOL?
• Will ESBs replace application servers?
• Will mashup servers replace portals?
• Will Windows Server 2008 replace Unix?
• Do social software services trump deep/broad feature lists?
• Are Microsoft Office and/or Google Apps the next information worker application platforms?
• Will Google become the next superplatform titan?

Software as a Service (SaaS)

New financial and architectural realities have promoted SaaS to a first-class application delivery model. Already popular for collaboration and customer relationship management (CRM) applications, SaaS solutions are now available for almost any type of application or functional service. And leading indicators tell us that this market will continue to grow. The SaaS model engenders a number of benefits that can make these solutions preferable to in-house hosted solutions. This topic will discuss the risks and rewards of SaaS, including:

• Quick time-to-value and pay-as-you-use subscription model
• Easy integration derived from their service oriented nature
• Built-in collaboration capabilities (becoming a major differentiating feature)
• Legal realities related to service level agreements, identity and privacy, security, eDiscovery, and regulatory compliance
• The disruptive impact of emerging SaaS solutions from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and IBM

SOA Report Card

Everyone seems to be doing SOA, but how many organizations are doing it well? Is anyone making a passing grade? Burton Group is conducting intensive research into real-world SOA initiatives to learn what works and what doesn’t, and we’ll present our findings at Catalyst 2008. We’ll also have a number of companies present their personal experiences. This topic will explore the challenges and impediments to SOA success, and discuss options for dealing with them. It will examine the organizational and cultural ramifications of SOA. It will look at business models and metrics. And it will answer the following questions:

• Where do you start?
• How do you identify, model, and describe services?
• Is an ESB a prerequisite?
• What about WS-* versus REST?
• When do you really need to establish governance?
• What changes are required to the organization, funding models, development practices, etc?
• How do you measure success?

The Infrastructure Services Model: Focus on Identity Services

The IT industry needs to fulfill the promise of reusable infrastructure services based on applying the principles of SOA and leveraging open standards. Burton Group extends its ISM vision and challenges identity infrastructure vendors to cooperate in building out solutions that interoperate and can be leveraged by enterprise customer SOA-based applications.

Specific areas to be covered include:

• The business value of the Infrastructure Services Model
• Remapping identity infrastructure into services
• Early customer experiences with identity services
• How a policy decision service works and why it’s important
• Industry standards and why more work is needed
• Industry panel on the path to identity services, interoperability challenges, and how to catalyze the industry to get the work done

New Realities for Data Management

Details coming soon.