Teams embrace all-inclusive SOA

Enterprise architecture teams overseeing SOA initiatives ideally should be working with the network operations side of the house, but it doesn’t always happen that way, says Jason Bloomberg, a senior analyst at ZapThink. “If the network and security people aren’t included on that enterprise architecture team, that can be a challenge.”

“Who’s in charge of that? It goes in the data center, so it has to be managed like any other box. But it’s an application-level device, so the application developers and enterprise architects want to be involved as well,” Bloomberg says.

It’s essential to give up some control, however, adds Ron Schmelzer, a senior analyst at ZapThink. “The network people don’t own the network, and the database people don’t own the databases: The business owns both of those things. It becomes counterproductive when issues of control over networks, applications, databases and infrastructure take precedence over meeting the needs of the business.”

Get involved early, Schmelzer adds. “Getting the network folks involved in the services definition process actually could facilitate the movement to an enterprise architecture and create a better sense of control and buy-in.”

Over the long term, network managers also can eye opportunities to move into strategic SOA roles, if they want to. ZapThink is predicting an imminent shortage of service-oriented architects who have the requisite technical and people skills needed to help their companies transform their businesses.

Architects will be in the catbird seat for the next few years, and enterprises that have SOA-savvy personnel should encourage and protect them, because other organizations will be eyeing the talent, Schmelzer and Bloomberg say.

Read more at: NetworkWorld

Metadata Repositories are the ”New Black”

Managing the piles of metadata generated by a service-oriented architecture has emerged as one of the knottier challenges in the brave new world of SOA. We’re talking service definitions (WSDL), policy definitions that control security and other access to services (WS-Security and WS-Policy), models and business process definitions (BPEL, UML, WS-CDL), schema for data (XML Schema), and more. The registries provide a means of discovering, locating, and binding the metadata; the repositories store it and support change and version management.

That’s how ZapThink’s SOA maven Ron Schmelzer explained it to me. ”Registries (like Infravio, Systinet, and Software AG) emerged when Web Services required them through UDDI and other access mechanisms,” he says. ”Repositories (like those offered by Software AG, LogicLibrary, and Flashline) were first used by developers to manage all their assets, but once those assets became services, it all started to get mushed together.”

Schmelzer views the acquisition as a positive move by BEA, one that fills key gaps in the company’s SOA portfolio. ”Flashline addresses part of the overall metadata management problem by tracking, governing, and managing liquid assets in a common repository,” he says. ”This is not specifically service-oriented, but rather across projects people build and deploy with BEA technology.” But gaps remain: ”[The acquisition] leaves BEA lacking with regard to service metadata management and the registry,” he says. ”[V]endors like Infravio and LogicLibrary have a more comprehensive offering for the market for SOA metadata management, registry, and governance than the Flashline offering. And Systinet, Infravio, and LogicLibrary still maintain significant market share in the industry for those capabilities… BEA will have to play catch up to add those capabilities or maintain their relationship with Systinet.” (BEA OEM’d Systinet last year.)

Read more at: Application Developer Trends

BEA buys Flashline repository for AquaLogic SOA suite

Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst at ZapThink LLC, noted the Systinet product BEA has been using tracks service metadata, but “now Flashline addresses part of the overall metadata management problem by tracking, governing and managing liquid assets in a common repository. This is not specifically service-oriented, but rather across projects people build and deploy with BEA technology.”

While Flashline integrates with any UDDI-compliant registry, Schmelzer noted that BEA might want to upgrade from being a reseller on the registry side in the future.

“While there are positives in this announcement with BEA filling obvious gaps in their portfolio, the acquisition still leaves open gaps they will have to address in future additions to their solution line with regards to the SOA part of the metadata management picture,” he said.

Read more at: SearchWebServices

BEA buys repository maker Flashline

“The acquisition still leaves BEA lacking with regard to service metadata management and the registry,” said Ronald Schmelzer, a senior analyst at Zapthink in an e-mail message.

“Other vendors like Infravio and LogicLibrary have a more comprehensive offering for the market for SOA metadata management, registry, and governance than [Flashline].BEA will have to play catch up to add those capabilities or maintain their relationship with Systinet,” he wrote.

Read more at: InfoWorld

BEA Buys Flashline for SOA Edge

Ronald Schmelzer, a Baltimore-based analyst with ZapThink, said he believes one of the obvious reasons for BEA’s acquisition of Flashline is that ever since Hewlett-Packard’s acquisition of Mercury Interactive, which had acquired Systinet, “BEA was out searching for their answer to the metadata management/repository side of the SOA picture.”

The acquisition fills a gap because BEA had previously partnered with Systinet for its technology. Flashline addresses part of the overall metadata management problem by tracking, governing and managing liquid assets in a common repository, Schmelzer said.

However, the acquisition still leaves BEA lacking with regard to service metadata management and the registry, Schmelzer added.

“First off, other vendors like Infravio and LogicLibrary have a more comprehensive offering for the market for SOA metadata management, registry and governance than the Flashline offering, and, furthermore, Systinet, Infravio and LogicLibrary still maintain significant market share in the industry for those capabilities,” he said. “As such, BEA will have to play catch-up to add those capabilities or maintain their relationship with Systinet.”

Read more at: eWeek

Architecting the SOA registry/repository

Jason Bloomberg, senior analyst ZapThink LLC, said the new Flashline automation features could be helpful, but it is too early to tell how Stack’s approach will fair in the emerging SOA registry/repository market.

“I could easily see how Flashline’s new automation and harvesting capabilities could be quite useful for companies who are building SOA implementations,” the analyst said. “Only the market will tell, however, if customers will favor Flashline’s approach over, say, the business user-centered change time capabilities of Infravio X-Registry or the policy lifecycle support in Systinet Registry.”

Bloomberg also notes that Flashline is not alone in offering harvesting technology.

“Flashline is also following somewhat in the footsteps of Software AG and Fujitsu’s CentraSite, which also harvests Web Services for inclusion into composite applications,” the analyst said. “The challenge for all of these vendors is that customer requirements are a moving target, as enterprises are still putting together the pieces of a successful SOA plan.”

Read more at: SearchWebServices

Managing SOA Metadata: Registeries or Repositories?

Jason Bloomberg, senior analyst at consultancy ZapThink, offered a helicopter’s-eye view: “As services in the enterprise proliferate and companies build out their SOA implementations, the structure of corporate technology teams must change to enable flexible, agile service development, testing and support.”

Such efforts will stretch far beyond simply using the registry, which is ultimately just one of many elements in the service life cycle, and companies will rely on what Bloomberg calls “service life-cycle teams,” composed of diverse personnel from both IT and lines of business, including business analysts, architects, developers, testers and support staff.

“Fundamentally, SOA cannot scale without effective collaboration among the members of these teams,” asserted Bloomberg. “Furthermore, as enterprise SOA implementations grow, consistent communication among such SOA implementation teams must allow participants to collaborate regardless of each individual’s role, skill set or development environment.”

Read more at: SD Times

An SOA to Govern All?

While IBM’s new offering is comprehensive, Big Blue isn’t the first to play in this space, according to ZapThink analyst Jason Bloomberg. Existing leaders in SOA governance include Infravio, LogicLibrary, Mercury Systinet, WebLayers and Flashline, he said.

“The bottom line is that this market is still in flux, as companies figure out that SOA governance is more than simply managing the SOA project, but rather implementing corporate governance by leveraging SOA,” Bloomberg said.

Read more at: InternetNews

LogicLibrary Endorses IBM’s SOA Governance Strategy

“Governance is a multi-faceted challenge for organizations implementing SOA,” said Jason Bloomberg, Senior Analyst, ZapThink LLC. “Building services without the proper governance framework in place can lead to redundant capabilities, noncompliance with government regulations, and increased costs of integration. Organizations require the proper processes, policies and visibility throughout the services lifecycle to obtain the desired ROI from their SOA efforts. Partners like LogicLibrary and IBM offer customers a broad set of complementary tools critical to the success of SOA implementation projects.”

Read more at: LogicLibrary Press Release

ZapThink Paper Cites LogicLibrary as a Key Player in SOA Governance Market

LogicLibrary(R), the leader in SOA governance and software reuse, is prominently featured in the latest research report from ZapThink LLC, the premier industry analyst firm focused on Service-oriented Architectures (SOAs), XML, and Web Services. The paper, titled “Making Sense of SOA Governance, Service Lifecycle Management, Registries & Repositories,” states that at the core of SOA governance is the registry/repository, and LogicLibrary is highlighted as one of the key vendors in this market.

“The lifeblood of every SOA implementation is the ability to manage metadata. It is crucial to the governance process,” said Jason Bloomberg, senior analyst, ZapThink LLC. “With its ability to manage assets and metadata throughout the service lifecycle, the integrated registry/repository is at the center of the SOA governance infrastructure. LogicLibrary has consistently been a leading innovator in developing technology that makes it possible for organizations to effectively manage assets and implement SOA governance solutions that meet business objectives.”

“Once again, ZapThink makes a valuable contribution to the industry’s understanding of the solutions that make SOAs possible,” said Greg Coticchia, CEO of LogicLibrary. “As organizations grow their SOA pilots into full-scale deployments, it is essential for them to have the ability to manage assets and enforce policies throughout the entire service lifecycle. Logidex is the only solution that makes it possible for customers to bring together their architecture, development and deployment efforts. Leading companies worldwide rely on LogicLibrary to govern their emerging SOA initiatives.”

Read more at: Pittsburgh dBusiness News