WebMethods Enriches SOA

Jason Bloomberg, an analyst with ZapThink, in Waltham, Mass., said WebMethods has “seen the SOA writing on the wall for a while now. As a proprietary EAI [enterprise application integration] vendor, they really have little choice but to tell the SOA story.”

By acquiring Infravio, WebMethods is bringing in a clear thought leader in the SOA space, Bloomberg said.

Read more at: eWeek

webMethods buys Infravio for SOA governance tools

Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst with ZapThink LLC., agreed that the acquisition is likely to strengthen webMethods product offerings in the SOA space.

“The addition of Infravio promises to add quite a bit of capability and promises to radically change the way that webMethods goes to market with its SOA approach, should they choose to leverage the knowledge, visibility and capabilities of Infravio,” he said.

Looking at the two companies’ histories, the analyst indicated this deal could added the SOA credibility webMethods has been seeking.

“Infravio has long been a leader in the SOA market, first starting with service interface and then management, and finally resting on a strategy around SOA metadata management, registries, repository, governance and policy management,” Schmelzer said. “webMethods got the SOA gospel early in the decade, but they haven’t been able to execute on all cylinders yet with regards to the SOA strategy. They had added the capabilities of The Mind Electric with their SOA Fabric early on, but it hadn’t really percolated throughout their infrastructure as they made the transition from EAI to SOA.”

The analyst said webMethods needs to take advantage not only of the Infravio governance tools, but the company’s expertise in SOA.

“Some of the Infravio assets revolve around their deep capabilities in SOA metadata management, governance and policy,” he said. “Infravio has really built a substantial product here with some of the most advanced capabilities in the industry. But also, Infravio provides significant thought-leadership and marketing visibility in the market that webMethods has lacked for years. By adding Infravio, if they can keep up the momentum, they have a chance of getting the visibility, capability and strategy around SOA that they need to compete in this hyperactive market.”

Read more at: SearchWebServices

WebMethods Acquires Infravio for SOA Boost

Jason Bloomberg, an analyst with ZapThink, in Waltham, Mass., said WebMethods has “seen the SOA writing on the wall for a while now. As a proprietary EAI [enterprise application integration] vendor, they really have little choice but to tell the SOA story, and in fact, they’ve been doing a reasonably good job telling that story, given that what they’re really selling is an integration infrastructure.”

However, by acquiring Infravio, WebMethods is bringing in a clear thought leader in the SOA space, Bloomberg said.

“Infravio is at the eye of the SOA storm, focused on registry/repository, SOA governance, and service life-cycle management,” Bloomberg said. “The issue now is one of execution: Can Infravio’s leadership raise WebMethods’ SOA efforts to a leadership position, or will WebMethods’ EAI ball and chain swamp Infravio’s vision? Only time will tell.”

Read more at: eWeek

The Rush to SOA

Ron Schmelzer, senior analyst at research firm ZapThink LLC, backs up Sutor’s assertion about Oracle. “Oracle is talking about server virtualization–the ability to manage and aggregate functionality across multiple systems. They mean it in terms of data, because as much as they’d like to be an application server company, Oracle is still a data company. Would you use Oracle to manage a farm of BEA WebLogic application servers? I would be hard-pressed to say that would be a reality.”

Read more at: SD Times

Case Study ZapNote: The Hartford

The insurance industry is leading the economy in the adoption of Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs), and The Hartford is an early adopter of these technologies among insurance companies. When it became necessary to update an agent tool that required integration to a heterogeneous collection of back-end systems, taking an SOA approach was a natural fit for them.

The Hartford realized early in this project that they needed to acquire a Web Services management (WSM) solution, so they established formal selection criteria, invited several vendors to participate, and narrowed the selection down to two vendors. They then put those two vendors through an exhaustive, three-week proof-of-concept in order to determine which vendor would meet their needs.

This case study details The Hartford’s selection process, and the criteria they used to make the selection. As an early adopter, The Hartford’s approach can serve as a useful lesson for companies in many industries considering a WSM solution.

WebMothods [sic] Makes Tech Buys Toward Suppport Of SOA

Analyst Ron Schmelzer with Zapthink, Waltham, Mass., called the acquisition, and appointment of The Mind Electric Chairman Graham Glass as webMethods’ new CTO, a “bold step” in webMethods’ commitment to developing next-generation software for SOAs.

Read more at: CRN

Overview of Web Services Management

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SOA Tools

From its inception through 2002, the primary application for Web Services in the enterprise was to simplify point-to-point integration between systems, thereby reducing the cost of integration. This application of Web Services, however, only scratches the surface of the true potential of Web Services — enabling companies to build agile business processes and IT systems that can respond to change through the use of loosely coupled, standards-based Service-oriented architectures.

The business value of such architectures in terms of the business agility they provide is substantial, but as of early 2003, only a few early adopter enterprises have built such architectures, partly because few tools for building Service-oriented architectures are available on the market, and furthermore, there is little understanding of the best practices companies should follow to build such architectures. This report seeks to clarify the requirements for realizing the value of Web Services by providing a set of emerging best pra

SOA Tools and Best Practices

From its inception through 2002, the primary application for Web Services in the enterprise was to simplify point-to-point integration between systems, thereby reducing the cost of integration. This application of Web Services, however, only scratches the surface of the true potential of Web Services — enabling companies to build agile business processes and IT systems that can respond to change through the use of loosely coupled, standards-based Service-oriented architectures.

The business value of such architectures in terms of the business agility they provide is substantial, but as of early 2003, only a few early adopter enterprises have built such architectures, partly because few tools for building Service-oriented architectures are available on the market, and furthermore, there is little understanding of the best practices companies should follow to build such architectures. This report seeks to clarify the requirements for realizing the value of Web Services by providing a set of emerging best practices as well as an analysis of the tools that are currently available for building Service-oriented architectures.

ZapNote: The Mind Electric

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