Every now and than people approach me and tell me that they’ve read and heard so many things about SOA and are wondering “Now what is it, really ?”.

It seems like there are still too many variations in terms of what SOA is and what it means to people and that we still struggle to describe it to a broader audience.

(more…)

Certainly you don’t have to be a Nobel Laureate in economics (and you should read “Geography and Trade” by Krugman if you have any interest whatsoever in the issues) to understand that the current economic mess is slowing M&A activity. But should it? Isn’t the idea to buy low? Seems like a great time for companies with lots of cash–which is what everyone is after!–to go on a buying spree. It’s always fun speculating what companies will be acquired and which companies will do the acquiring. Privately held companies may be under substantial pressure by their investors to sell.

(more…)

We’ve recently exceeded 40,000 distributed copies of ‘BPM Basics for Dummies’.  Whichever way you look at it, that is a lot of books and a lot of ‘Dummies’ (sorry, ‘uninitiated, potential BPM adopters’!).

(more…)

There’s a lot of talk about SOA and WOA led by ZDNet Blogger, Analyst and great guy Dana Gardner.

WOA is a very fast paced “Web 2.0-ish” way to innovate and mash up concepts quickly. And the massive power of it is that you are standing on the shoulders of Giants who have built “Social Utilities” and amazing Web-Oriented APIs so that you can use astonishingly simple expressions and get vasty goodness (technical term) very easily. (more…)

If you use or maintain applications that made their initial debut back when we were all clamoring to get a terminal on our desk, then this blog is for you. If you’re even remotely interested in topics and discussions related to these proven yet undervalued systems, then this blog is for you too.

(more…)

The Churchill Club recently hosted one of their very interesting events.  Unfortunately, since I don’t live in the Silicon Valley anymore, I could only read about it. The coverage, including this posting by Dan Farber makes me really wish I was there.  (Full disclosure: I used to work for SAP and had the pleasure to meet Hasso Plattner once.  Additionally, the event was hosted by Arma Partners, the investment bank that Software AG partnered with for our acquisition of webMethods.)  Based on reading the coverage of the event, it seems clear that both Hasso and Marc Benioff made their points and excited the attendees. What I missed in the coverage was a more fundamental issue:
Why is SaaS compelling?

(more…)

Globalization compels companies to cut costs, work more effectively and shorten product cycles. The manufacturing industry adopted these measures long ago. New products are manufactured using standardized components and existing platforms. New components are developed only for the production of highly innovative solutions. This approach promotes systematic recycling of existing resources.

(more…)

One of the coolest (or scariest, depending on your perspective) things about SOA is that it requires a dramatically different approach to application design, development and operation. Sure, Enterprise IT is no stranger to periodic paradigm shifts in how applications are built. After all, we have all been through other ‘revolutions’ in the past - Client-Server computing, Web-based applications, application servers etc. Like these shifts in the past, SOA is now leading us to the next generation of application design and development.

(more…)

2008 has certainly been a year filled with challenge and change.  As I look back and the year wraps up, I’m feeling a bit contemplative.  I find myself wondering…  Is there still concern over Baby Boomer retirements?  Are the people who are responsible for mainframe systems still unhappy with the term “legacy”?  Is the “going green” movement still going strong?  And, what’s in store for 2009?

(more…)

We often say that Software AG is truly a global company, and that we serve customers in 70 countries. But what does that abstract number mean? How can we put “shoe-leather” to that kind of worldwide reach? I recently returned from being one of the speakers at Software AG’s Business Innovation Forum in Japan. More than 200 people attended, including customers, partners and the media. Before I go any further, has the following situation ever happened to you?

(more…)