Burton Group Catalyst
Agility through a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is one way companies can respond to changing business dynamics. In this talk from Catalyst 2005, the Burton Group's research director Anne Thomas Manes offers a roadmap and some practical advice on the cultural, design and infrastructure challenges which must be addressed for businesses to begin realizing the benefits of SOA.
Identity management is a concept that many enterprises are considering as a way to streamline internal processes, but there are many challenges to starting this process. At the Burton Group's 2005 Catalyst conference, Phil Blank, VP of Information Technology at ADP, explains the steps they undertook to move from a flawed and difficult system to a new identity management solution.
Imagine a one-stop shop where you can use one consistent interface to arrange any service--airline reservations, shipping packages, appliance repair--through any supplier. Amazon.com lets us buy almost any product, but where can we go to order services? Rearden Commerce's Mark Orttung says he has built such a "Services on Demand" application, and it has been called the killer app of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).
Spam is a daunting challenge for many enterprises. With some estimates of lost productivity costs in the US at $10 billion ($50 billions worldwide) and growing risks of security and reputation at stake, many Enterprise IT Departments struggle with spam on a daily basis. However, the spam outlook is not all bad. Burton Group Senior Analysts Trent Henry and Daniel Golding discuss some suggested best practices in dealing with spam and claim that, as hard as it might be to believe it, we're winning. [Burton Group's Catalyst 2005 audio from IT Conversations]
For enterprise application development, the high-end "superplatforms" like J2EE and .NET aren't the only choice. Developers can choose from the "rebel platforms," open-source platforms that don't adhere to industry standards like J2EE or .NET. In this session from the Application Platform Strategies track at Burton Group's 2005 Catalyst Conference, Richard Monson-Haefel describes the rebel platforms, compares then with superplatforms from Microsoft, SAP, IBM, Oracle, and BEA on criteria including flexibility, risk, lock-in, development complexity, and cost. [Burton Group Catalyst audio from IT Conversations]
In this speech at Burton Group's 2005 Catalyst Conference Anne Thomas Manes tells how best to implement security in a SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) environment. She explains why the end-to-end security of Web Services is better than the SSL point-to-point method still used by most sites, discusses the various WS security standards and makes practical recommendations. If you suffer from "WS vertigo" this should help. [Catalyst 2005 audio from IT Conversations]
Most people who use Information Technology do not care how it works. They just want it to do what it is supposed to do. Getting to the point where IT is reliable and invisible requires some cultural and organizational changes. Burton Group Service Director Michael Disabato discusses the Service Delivery approach with a focus on the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). [Catalyst 2005 audio from IT Conversations]
"Microsoft in the enterprise" has been considered an oxymoron for many enterprise IT strategists. Despite these barriers, Microsoft has gone ahead and finalized key initiatives such as new model-driven tools, Indigo, Avalon, and Windows Longhorn. Peter O'Kelly assesses Microsoft's strategy to become an enterprise superplatform contender by leveraging the
potential of the .NET platform initiative. [Catalyst 2005 audio from IT Conversations]
Trent proposes crafting and implementing an enterprise security architecture over a two- to three-year period. But he points out that an architecture is a living thing that must adapt, for example, to a
merger with another organization with different principles or to a
change in the regulatory environment. [Burton Group Catalyst audio from IT Conversations]
In this session from the Network and Telecom Strategies track at
Burton Group's 2005 Catalyst Conference, Burton Senior Analyst William
Terrill gives an overview of protocols and products for enterprise
deployment of Wireless LANs. Quality of Service (QOS), security, and
centralized management are all available now. New 802.11 suffixes
will standardize features that are still vendor-specific, such as mesh
networking. Bill gives recommendations for your enterprise wireless
deployment. [Burton Group Catalyst audio from IT Conversations]