SOA Vendors Announced SCA - Service Component Architecture

According to InfoWorld.com, "SCA (Service Componenet Architecture) will allow developers to focus on writing business logic in the building and packaging of applications, according to a source familiar with the announcement."

More from the article: "SCA is designed for SOA, unlike platforms such as J2EE, which have been adapted to SOA. SCA is intended to allow development of application assemblies without regard to middleware or language."

Behind this initiative are IBM, Oracle, SAP, Iona, Siebel, BEA, SAP and Sybase (!).

SOA and Open-Source: Open Servicing

This article, by Ajit Sagar, bring to us some open-source alternatives to implement SOA.

It seems as though as soon as the open source community rallies around a technology, the IT industry starts taking it more seriously - and finds practical application for it. Ironically, although organizations like the concept, despite the maturation of the open source community in a variety of platforms and technologies, adoption of open source products in large organizations is still an uphill battle. The good news is that mainstream vendor products are now based on a combination of open source technologies, and so mature products from the community are finding homes in many corporations.

I have noticed that, in fact, there is a tendency to mix open-source and proprietary products in a SOA implementation. I truly believe that this is the best approach. Let's see an example that Ajit tells in his article: Apache Synapse (read also this preliminar analysis from Gartner)

The idea behind Synapse is intended to address the issue of creating something tangible from the quagmire of standards around Web services. Synapse plans to produce a service broker - lightweight and scalable - based on Web services standards. The broker will be developed with contributions from Infravio, Blue Titan, Iona, Sonic Software, and others. Synapse focuses on the implementation of a pure Web services stack, including WS-Policy, WS-Security, WS-ReliableMessaging, and WS-Addressing. Also, Synapse is targeted to enable SOA adoption by combining with other open source components such as Struts, Axis, Spring, and Hibernate. In essence, Synapse is the equivalent of your open source ESB.

IBM DeveloperWorks Portal: Page Devoted to Software Architecture

Finally IBM has released a page related only to software architecture. Must read resources about SOA, IT Architecture, Rational Softwares for architetcure job etc are available from this page. Add it to your bookmark or, even better, share it at del.icio.us! Best regards.

Gary Booch's Papers (some of them)

Gary Booch is an IBM fellow and a legend regarding software architecture. Here is the page where he keeps good and must read presentations. Are you a software architect? Take a look at these papers! Do not worry if you have to register before, it is worth, believe me.

SOA 101

SOA 101 by ZDNet's Chris Jablonski -- You've been hearing about it more and more, so if you are new to service-oriented architectures (SOA) and want the full scoop but not ready to start connecting the dots between terms like BPEL, WS-Policy, and WSIF, then read this (free PDF) four-page overview from Nucleus Research. The research firm, which bases its conclusions on [...]

Free Oracle Database: 10g Express Edition

Oracle released on Fri, Oct 28th, his Oracle Database 10g Express Edition that, according to announcement, it is free to develop, deploy and distribute. This product is still a beta version but, of course it is a good opportunity to test and to report bugs to Oracle. Interesting, no? I recommend the reading of the FAQ product.

SOA Modeling and Architecture (by IBM)

This a 4 pages paper from IBM whose highlight are:

- Aligns business and IT goals through service modeling that is designed to connect an enterprise's business model with its technology model
- Helps ensure that business knowledge in legacy applications can be accessed in a new, integrated, SOA
- Helps increase business flexibility and reduce risks by validating several aspects of SOA design, from business goal to service realization

The CMMi of SOA: from ESB to ESP, an action-oriented SOA

This post from blogs@ZDNet talks about the announcing that three SOA vendors are lauching something called "SOA Maturity Model". According to this model, SOA has five key phases in its lifecycle: from initial projects to evolution into a full-fledged "enterprise nervous system". The model is based on CMMI from CMU.edu.

We have the "Three SOA amigos": AmberPoint, Sonic Software and Systinet.

The model defines five levels of maturity and sets a vision for business benefits realized at each of these levels.

- Level 1: This is the initial learning and initial project phase of SOA adoption. Projects here are typically done to simultaneously meet a specific need to implement functionality while trying out specific technologies and an approach to SOA.
- Level 2: At this level, standards are set as to the technical governance of SOA implementation, typically under leadership of the architecture organization.
- Level 3: A partnership forms between technology and business organizations in order to assure that the use of SOA provides clear business responsiveness.
- Level 4: Level 4 focuses on measuring and presenting these processes at the business level so as to provide continuous feedback on the performance and business impact of the processes implemented at Level 3.
- Level 5: The SOA information systems becomes the "enterprise nervous system" and takes action automatically according to events occurring at the business level according to rules optimizing business goals.

IBM Ponies Up Rational Wares To Open Source

IBM announced on Oct 12th plans to contribute with Open source Community by "giving" a subset of the IBM Rational Unified Process (RUP). See a excerpt:
"IBM will contribute a subset of the IBM Rational Unified Process (RUP), a software process platform that has guided some 500,000 developers around the world in projects ranging from small-scale product development to large industrial-strength systems. RUP is a vast collection of methods and best practices for promoting quality and efficiency throughout software development projects. IBM's donation will also provide a foundation architecture and Web-based tools for the industry to engineer, collaborate on, share and reuse software development best practices."

other link related to:
- http://www.soa-pipeline.com/172300528?cid=rssfeed_pl_soa

My new Book: RUP Made Easy

This holiday (Out, 12th) I was at livraria Cultura in São Paulo and, of course, I couldn't resist... ....I bought "The Rational Unified Process Made Easy". It is a classic must-have book. Instead of tons of white papers about RUP that I have to carry in my backpack, I keep only this five-star book.

See a piece of Amazon's editorial review:

The Rational Unified Process Made Easy will teach you the key points involved in planning and managing iterative projects, the fundamentals of component design and software architecture, and the proper employment of use cases. All team members--from project managers to analysts, from developers to testers--will learn how to immediately apply the RUP to their work. You will learn that the RUP is a flexible, versatile process framework that can be tailored to suit the needs of development projects of all types and sizes.

Key topics covered include:

* How to use the RUP to develop iteratively, adopt an architecture-centric approach, mitigate risk, and verify software quality
* Tasks associated with the four phases of the RUP: Inception, Elaboration, Construction, and Transition
* Roles and responsibilities of project managers, architects, analysts, developers, testers, and process engineers in a RUP project
* Incrementally adopting the RUP with minimal risk
* Common patterns for failure with the RUP--and how to avoid them

Use this book to get quickly up to speed with the RUP, so you can easily employ the significant power of this process to increase the productivity of your team

Achieving Robust Designs with Six Sigma

Six Sigma again. This time the Six Sigma approach is suggested in an attempt:

• to build dependable – “plug-and-play” -  products;


• realiable products: “last a long time”;


• and, of course, low cost (anticipate that products will be affordable).

Six Sigma, according to this article, can help IT managers to reach these goals:

“As a breakthrough philosophy, process, and methodology, Six Sigma offers a refreshing approach to systematically implement robust designs.”

March of ESBs

March of the ESBs by ZDNet's Joe McKendrick -- It's no use fighting ESBs; they're an unstoppable wave now. First IBM announced it was offering not one, but two (count 'em, two) enterprise service buses, and now word is out that JBoss also is getting into the ESB act. InfoWorld's Paul Krill reports that the open-source app server company "plans to offer an open-source ESB in 2006." Along with IBM and JBoss, a lot of infrastucture vendors have been getting on the bus lately, including BEA. And, the open-source world has another ESB-like architecture in the offing — the Apache Synapse Web services intermediary.[...]

Software Architect: what do I actually do?

This is one of that articles that I always carry on in my backpack:

Rationale:

A key part of the software architect's job is producing an architectural description of the system that defines the architecture's key functions, features, and characteristics for its stakeholders. Where do you start? What do you need to know? Nick Rozanski and Eóin Woods provide detailed answers to these questions, with useful suggestions on how to attack this fundamental document that underpins any development project.

Book: Software Systems Architecture

Well, my wish list at Amazon.com is growing :-) I have discovered this five-stars book this week. I beg you: wanna give me a gift? Buy any one of these books. I deeply appreciate!

This week I present you the "Software Systems Architecture":

From the Back Cover

Software Systems Architecture is a practitioner-oriented guide to designing and implementing effective architectures for information systems. It is both a readily accessible introduction to software architecture and an invaluable handbook of well-established best practices. It shows why the role of the architect is central to any successful information-systems development project, and, by presenting a set of architectural viewpoints and perspectives, provides specific direction for improving your own and your organization's approach to software systems architecture.

With this book you will learn how to

* Design an architecture that reflects and balances the different needs of its stakeholders
* Communicate the architecture to stakeholders and demonstrate that it has met their requirements
* Focus on architecturally significant aspects of design, including frequently overlooked areas such as performance, resilience, and location
* Use scenarios and patterns to drive the creation and validation of your architecture
* Document your architecture as a set of related views
* Use perspectives to ensure that your architecture exhibits important qualities such as performance, scalability, and security

The architectural viewpoints and perspectives presented in the book also provide a valuable long-term reference source for new and experienced architects alike.

Whether you are an aspiring or practicing software architect, you will find yourself referring repeatedly to the practical advice in this book throughout the lifecycle of your projects.

A supporting Web site containing further information can be found at www.viewpoints-and-perspectives.info

Fusion: Oracle Middleware

According to this link, Fusion is the answer from Oracle to "Next-Generation Enterprise Architecture".

• This suite of next-generation enterprise applications will leverage Oracle Fusion Middleware and also give customers access to Java, composite applications built on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), master data consolidation, Grid Computing, and other powerful technologies. Project Fusion also includes an architecture that provides:
  
• Business Insight: Enterprise-wide business intelligence for improved decision making with the ability to take action immediately;
• Adaptable Business Processes: Adaptive processes that help adjust to changing market conditions and competitive threats;
• Superior Ownership Experience:Lowest total cost of ownership of all enterprise software providers

JBoss Releases First Seam Framework

Java Server Faces + EJB 3.0 + jBPM = JBoss Seam Framework

JBoss released the Seam framework that aims to unify the component models of JSF and EJB 3.0, providing a streamlined programming model for web-based enterprise applications.

Let's point out some promisses:

• Seam introduces the notion of declarative application state management for POJO (Plain Old Java Objects) components;
• Seam components are stateful and contextual, with a well-defined container-managed lifecycle. This approach helps solve a whole class of bugs and performance problems that plague web applications with non-linear or multi-window navigation;
• Seam makes business process management a first class construct, by fully integrating JBoss jBPM into this state management architecture. It's never been this easy to write applications with complex workflows and complex user interactions;
• Finally, Seam makes it easy to test Java EE 5 applications in unit test frameworks by leveraging the JBoss Embeddable EJB3 container.

It looks good don't you think?

Six Sigma Comes to IT

This is a Dec’2003 Article from CIO.com but ir more actual than ever. It brings an interesting approach to Six Sigma in “IT World”. If worked in companies like Chase Financial Services, Raytheon Aircraft, etc, why it shouldn’t work for our companies?

How Six Sigma Works in IT Despite its origin in manufacturing, Six Sigma isn't about widgets; the focus is on processes. When applied to IT operations, Six Sigma aims to measure and improve both internal processes, such as network speed and reliability, and line-of-business processes in which IT has a role, such as how well an online ordering system is working.

Microsoft and JBOSS

Microsoft and JBoss have made a technical agreement to compete with IBM:

Engineers from Microsoft and JBoss, which sells an application server and other middleware under an open-source license, will work together in Redmond, Wash., to improve the performance of JBoss products running on Windows. Although JBoss sells its products under a relative of the open-source GNU Public License, or GPL, that Microsoft has criticized as a threat to intellectual-property ownership, and its technology is based on the Java standard that competes with Windows as a development platform, Microsoft said the deal is meant to help a small software company that influences sales of Windows server software.

Some useful links about this "deal" (?):

• "Microsoft ties knot with JBoss: who's the enemy?", Sep 27th'05
• "Tacking Stock with JBoss" - Interview with JBoss' CEO, Sep 29th'05
• "Microsoft And JBoss Strike Development Deal", Sep 27th'05
  

Manager your Project: TRAC + SUbVersion + Apache

More one excellent open-source "package" to manager your projects through Intranet/Internet: Trac + SubVersion + Apache.

1. Trac is a web-based Integrated SCM & Project Management;
2. SubVersion is a open-source SCM (software configuration management);
   
3. Apache - the best ever Web Server;

Well, with these three softwares you have:

• A version control (SubVersion is the evolution of CVS):

  The goal of the Subversion project is to build a version control system that is a compelling replacement for CVS in the open source community.

• A web-based Project Management that can integrate with SubVersion and. among other features, it will provide to you:
• 
  

• An integrated system for managing software projects;
• An enhanced wiki
• A flexible web-based issue tracker
• An interface to the Subversion revision control system

Trac uses a minimalistic approach to web-based software project management. Our mission; to help developers write great software while staying out of the way. Trac should impose as little as possible on a team’s established development process and policies.

• The best Web-Server (Apache) to support all of this.

Other interesting links:

• Subversion in 10 minutes
• Running SubVersion on Debian + Apache2
• Creating and Using a SubVersion Server

How open source will fit in with SOA and Web services

In this short interview we can see a good approach to anwser the question: How Open source will fit in SOA and WebServices.

Data centers are planning the use of virtualization technology to support SOA and WebServices. The options that they have are: VMWare, Microsoft Virtual Server etc. What about open source options? This is what try to put on the table to discuss.