Podcast: taking the pulse of newest era in IT

The cloud computing moniker just doesn’t include enough and doesn’t bring us to the next stage. In the words of Huey Lewis, we need a “new drug.”

So join our panel of analysts to help dig into this current and budding new era of IT: Jim Kobielus, senior analyst at Forrester Research; Tony Baer, senior analyst at Ovum; Brad Shimmin, senior analyst, Current Analysis; Joe McKendrick, independent analyst and ZDNet blogger, and Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst at ZapThink.

Schmelzer: We could say that we’re still floating through the information era, but … I’m going to bring back the drug theme here. We like to self-medicate in IT. We have these chronic problems that we seem to be continuously trying to solve.

They’re the same problems–getting systems to talk to each other, to extract information, and to make it all work. We try one drug after the other and they provide these short-term fixes. Then, there’s the inevitable crash afterward, and we just never seem to solve the underlying problem.

Read more at: IT-Director

LZA Course Manual version 5.2

Current version of the LZA manual as of May 2009. LZA-CourseManual-5.2.pdf (11 MB)

Agile Enterprise Architecture is not an Oxymoron!

Of all the feedback we received from our recent TOGAF and SOA guest ZapFlash, perhaps the most intriguing was a comment that TOGAF and the Agile Manifesto were at odds. It’s true that ZapThink has long included Agile best practices in our discussion of SOA, meaning “Agile” with a …

Test plan and Test Approach

JPG Version. Cheers nanda SOATestApproach.jpg (260 KB) SOATestPlan.jpg (672 KB)

TestTeam and Release Readiness Model

Dear All, PSA. Cheers nanda SOATestApproach.png (374 KB)

BriefingsDirect analysts take pulse of newest era in IT: Corporate flat line or next Renaissance?

PODCAST published on Thursday, May 21, 2009

Welcome to the latest BriefingsDirect Analyst Insights Edition podcast, Vol. 41. Our latest discussion centers on the next era of information technology (IT). Suddenly, cloud computing is the dominant buzzword of the day, but the current confluence of trends includes much more.

There’s business process management (BPM), business intelligence (BI), complex event processing (CEP), service-oriented architecture (SOA), software as a service (SaaS), Web-oriented architecture (WOA), and even Enterprise 2.0.

How do all of these relate? Or if they don’t relate, is there a common theme? Is there an overriding uber direction for IT that we need to consider?

The cloud computing moniker just doesn’t include enough and doesn’t bring us to the next stage. In the words of Huey Lewis, we need a “new drug.”

So join our panel of analysts to help dig into this current and budding new era of IT: Jim Kobielus, senior analyst at Forrester Research; Tony Baer, senior analyst at Ovum; Brad Shimmin, senior analyst, Current Analysis; Joe McKendrick, independent analyst and ZDNet blogger, and Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst at ZapThink. The chat is moderated by me, as usual.

Read more at: Briefings Direct

ZapThink Announces Release of Online, Computer-Based SOA Training

Baltimore, MD (PRunderground) May 21, 2009 — ZapThink today announces the availability of its online, computer-based Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Licensed ZapThink Architect (LZA) training and credentialing course. In this first-of-its-kind offering, attendees can get access to over 20 hours of self-paced video instruction and slides, online testing and evaluation, and opportunity to submit architectural exercises to ZapThink master architects for grading and assessment. Upon completion of the online course, attendees will receive the same LZA Credential that they would receive if they attended one of ZapThinks popular in-person training events.

“Companies and individuals are looking for vendor-neutral, practical, in-depth training that is affordable and has minimal impact on their resources,” said Ronald Schmelzer, Managing Partner with ZapThink, LLC. “ZapThinkís new online, CBT courseware fits the bill. Individuals can sign up and get the same in-depth, hands-on SOA training that they’ve come to expect from ZapThink, but at their own pace and schedule.”

The online SOA training course, available at learn.zapthink.com, provides 10 modules of in-depth content, each of which has up to 2 hours of video instruction, dozens of slides, a twenty question self-assessment, and exercises to be submitted to ZapThink staff for their evaluation. At the completion of the course, attendees will receive a Junior-level LZA credential, which can be easily upgraded, at no additional cost, to a Senior-level credential upon completion of additional exercises and activities. The course includes the full range of SOA topics taught at the in-person LZA courses in which over 900 enterprise architects have already been credentialed.

Topics include:

• Service modeling
• Service domains
• SOA infrastructure planning
• SOA testing
• SOA Quality and Management
• SOA Governance
• Developing a SOA Roadmap
• SOA ROI and Business Planning
• SOA Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and metrics
• SOA security
• SOA and Web Services Performance optimization
• SOA policy management
• Composite Services and Business Process
• Service-Oriented Business Applications (SOBA) and Mashups.

Attendees will learn about notable SOA security case studies and get hands-on guidance in making SOA work. The online LZA course offers the following benefits:

• An annual credential that allows ZapThink to endorse individual enterprise architects as having specific SOA skills
• Posting onto an LZA Directory that enables companies to research and locate architects to assist with their SOA-specific needs
• Opportunity to contribute to ZapThinkís online research and content
• Participation in exclusive annual LZA-only conferences, events and activities.

Increasingly, individuals like are looking to get the backing of a qualified third-party organization that can endorse their existing SOA skills as well as enable continuous improvement, enhanced networking with those looking for architecture resources, or enhance their current SOA-enabled careers. Through its LZA program, ZapThink is filling the unmet need for knowledge and credentials in this area.

For more information and to register for the online LZA course, visit learn.zapthink.com.

Read more at: ZapThink Press Release

SOA Test Plan

This picture describes the test factors and various testing phases. Regards nanda

SOA Infrastructure Plan

Exercise 5: Based upon Royal United Services Institute “A Service-Oriented Approach to Delivering NEC” Whitepaper zapthink Excercise #5 – SOA Infrastructure Plan.ppt (1 MB)

Implementation Model

This is a high level view of the implentation model. Implementation Model (Generic).ppt (541 KB)