For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Topic Overview: Strategies To Cut Application Costs Using Diagnostic And Monitoring Tools

by Phil Murphy, November 5, 2008

Once developers have implemented and stabilized applications in a production environment, the applications are placed in "maintenance mode"; thereafter, many receive little scrutiny. As time passes, business volumes grow and hardware components change. . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Application Development Pros: Must-Read Research In Any Economic Downturn

by Mike Gilpin, October 28, 2008

Whether the economy slips into recession or not, many firms are starting to tighten their budgets. Although this means even more limited resources than usual, the business will continue to expect application development teams to deliver high-quality, . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Topic Overview: Service-Oriented Architecture For Apps Dev And Program Management Pros

by Randy Heffner, Mike Gilpin, August 18, 2008

For a single, isolated solution delivery project, it's OK to think of service-oriented architecture (SOA) as just Web services (WS) standards for better application integration: Your application needs something from another one, and WS technology bridges . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Case Study: EDS Uses Actual Results To Calibrate Estimates

by Carey Schwaber, April 22, 2008

Systems integrators live and die by the accuracy of their project estimates. To improve ad hoc estimation methods that were producing inaccurate results, EDS began capturing actual project data in a central repository and trained estimators to consult . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

An Oracle-BEA Combo: How It Will Affect You

by John R. Rymer, Mike Gilpin, October 16, 2007

By acquiring BEA Software's wealth of large corporate customers and well-respected middleware products, Oracle would be second only to IBM in that key market. Oracle's Larry Ellison has long threatened to acquire BEA Systems, finally making an offer on . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

The Truth About Agile Processes

Frank Answers To Frequently Asked Questions

by Carey Schwaber, August 29, 2007

More than half of enterprises that aren't already using Agile processes are interested in adopting them. But many of these shops aren't completely clear about what Agile adoption really entails. As a result, shops that adopt Agile processes are often . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Topic Overview: Open Source

by Michael Goulde, January 29, 2007

Open source software is continuing to gain acceptance with IT decision-makers throughout North America and Europe. The creation of concrete standards, along with the continued adoption of open source, has even opened the eyes of organizations that were . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Topic Overview: Application Integration Solutions

by Ken Vollmer, Henry Peyret, December 23, 2005

Integration of enterprise applications is the new direction of application development. Rather than create new, separate programs, vendors are starting to integrate existing applications to better use, share, and allocate resources within an organization. . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Real-World SOA: SOA Platform Case Studies

How Seven Firms Are Building Their Software Infrastructures For SOA

by Randy Heffner, September 15, 2005

To build a comprehensive service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform, enterprises must decide their objectives for SOA, determine how to leverage their current infrastructures, and choose whether to adopt emerging SOA specialist products. Although firms . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Your Strategic SOA Platform Vision

Crafting Your Architectural Evolution To Service-Oriented Architecture

by Randy Heffner, March 29, 2005

Your service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform — the software infrastructure and tools you use to build, configure, deploy, monitor, and manage services — heavily influences your ability to attain the strategic business flexibility and benefits that . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

European Financial Services: J2EE Is Rising

Recent Survey Results Show Focus in Strategic Decisions

by Jost Hoppermann, January 31, 2005

Up to now, European financial services firms have not shown a clear trend toward adopting either J2EE or .NET, considering the technologies as more or less equally valuable — although some firms leaned slightly toward one or the other. But the situation . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Database Log Shipping Usage Grows

The Technology Is Flexible, But It Requires Formal Processes

by Noel Yuhanna, December 30, 2004

Database log shipping is a cost-effective, simple, and flexible technology that can be used for several purposes, including business continuity, high-availability, and offload reporting requirements. Although Forrester estimates that more than 45% of . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

GXS To Grow Via Acquisition

Francisco Partners To Buy IBM's EDI Unit And Combine It With GXS

by Ken Vollmer, November 2, 2004

The proposed combination of Global eXchange Services (GXS) and IBM's EDI units is a positive move that will create new opportunities for each company's customers due to the increased availability of advanced integration technology. This in turn will enable . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

TIBCO Redraws The BPM Landscape

Acquisition of Staffware Will Drive More Change In This Market

by Ken Vollmer, Connie Moore, Sharyn Leaver, May 3, 2004

TIBCO has announced plans to acquire Staffware, the largest pure-play business process management (BPM) vendor specializing in human-centric workflow. This acquisition is a win-win for both companies: It strengthens TIBCO's end-to-end BPM capability, . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Microsoft And Sun Come To Terms

What It Means For Application Developers

by John R. Rymer, Randy Heffner, April 2, 2004

The peace treaty between Microsoft and Sun was not an April Fool's joke, but neither was it a sweeping agreement to make Java/J2EE and Microsoft's .NET interoperable — at least not yet. The immediate win is that users of Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

SAP Customers: Wake Up To SAP NetWeaver

by Sharyn Leaver, Ted Schadler, March 18, 2004

Forrester met with SAP board member Shai Agassi and SAP NetWeaver Global Initiative Senior Vice President Carol Burch to hear SAP's plans for its middleware. Our take? SAP customers should consider SAP NetWeaver for their next portal-centric or business . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

IBM's On Demand Strategy Goes Beyond IT

by Ted Schadler, Frank E. Gillett, Christopher Mines, Carey Schwaber, November 13, 2003

IBM's strategy to help companies thrive in a networked economy - and open up new markets for IBM - is now a year old. So how's it going? Pretty well and getting better. The vision's much clearer today, and 320,000 employees are energized to win the business . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Novell Strengthens Linux's Enterprise Standing

by Ted Schadler, Christopher Mines, Carey Schwaber, November 7, 2003

Novell will move deeper into enterprise open source software via its $210 million acquisition of the No. 2 Linux distributor, SUSE. This is a good deal for firms and governments looking for an open source alternative to Unix and Windows.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Microsoft Drives Office Deeper Into The Enterprise

by Ted Schadler, Laurie M. Orlov, Ryan Hudson, October 21, 2003

Microsoft's Office System 2003 is more than an upgrade. It's a platform for building apps that wire employees together and link them into enterprise data and processes. Microsoft will grow its Office business by stealing budget from other software categories.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

IBM And Microsoft: Arm In Arm On Web Services

by Ted Schadler, Charles Rutstein, September 18, 2003

IBM's Steve Mills and Microsoft's Bill Gates pledged allegiance to software standards. Is their commitment to Web services standards real? Yes. In fact, you can bet your career on it.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

HP Kills Two Birds With Talking Blocks

by Laura Koetzle, Ted Schadler, Natalie Lambert, September 8, 2003

With its acquisition of Talking Blocks, HP gets two things: 1) a Web services management tool kit today, and 2) a communications backbone for OpenView that will let HP grab a bigger slice of the Organic IT management pie tomorrow.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

LinuxWorld 2003: Linux Tips Into The Datacenter

by Ted Schadler, Laura Koetzle, Eric Schmitt, Angela Tseng, August 7, 2003

At this year's LinuxWorld, corporate IT buyers and datacenter vendors like BMC, CA, HP, IBM, Sun, and VERITAS took center stage. Most attendees and exhibitors are ignoring the SCO lawsuit to gain the Linux benefits of Unix reliability at Intel prices.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Linux Is More Than Ready For The Enterprise

by Ted Schadler, Charles Rutstein, June 24, 2003

Recent press leads some to believe that Linux is too risky for the enterprise datacenter. Hogwash. Linux is more than ready to go, and waiting means only one thing: cheating your company of the savings that come from moving Unix workloads to Linux on . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

IBM Will Make The SCO Linux Problem Go Away

by Ted Schadler, Christopher Mines, May 22, 2003

SCO has launched a high-profile - and ill-conceived - effort to sue IBM and threaten its own customers to stop Linux adoption. Should firms using Linux worry? No. Forrester expects that IBM will build a consortium to pay off SCO - or buy it outright.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

BPEL4WS: The Right Web Service Process Standard

by Ted Schadler, Charles Rutstein, Sharyn Leaver, April 15, 2003

Apps heavyweights SAP and Siebel have joined BEA, IBM, and Microsoft as co-authors on the BPEL4WS business process specification - and given it to OASIS under royalty-free terms. It's good news for firms focused on Web services.