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CIO Corner


CIO Corner Articles

Boundaryless Information Flow is Real and Relevant
Boundaryless Information Flow to Manage Our Safety
EA, Business Agility, and Boundaryless Information Flow
Enterprise Architecture: Return on Investment
Deciding on Open Source
Managing the Flow
Certification - A Part of a Virtuous Circle
Directories - If There Were No Directories I Couldn't Find IT
Boundaryless Information Flow & Enterprise Architecture
Thinking Strategically about Certified Products
Architecture: Make IT Work for You
Open Source and Standards
Architecture: An Essential Tool for the CIO
What Keeps CIO Awake
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CIO Corner with Terry Blevins

Boundaryless Information Flow™ is Real and Relevant

Three and a half years ago I came to The Open Group to work with the customers of The Open Group to help them articulate their business requirements for open infrastructure to:

  • Assure that the changes and standards are relevant
  • Articulate the value in tangible terms
  • Relate to both supply- and buy-side constituencies

We all know that organizations are changing, their objectives are changing, and their visions are changing. Organizations are becoming more boundaryless to improve operational efficiencies. They are improving operational efficiencies by improving enterprise business processes, both internal and external ones, including interactions with suppliers, customers, and partners. But there is a barrier to creating a truly boundaryless environment with fully integrated information. The missing component is interoperability, which presents an issue for most organizations.

But what does interoperability really mean? We worked with CIOs and members of the Customer Council to understand that. We started off using TOGAF's Business Scenario method, and discovered that interoperability could be described rather easily as "The ability of two or more entities or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged to meet a defined mission or objective." (This is a slightly extended version of IEEE's definition.)

Not having interoperable systems that would allow for Boundaryless Information Flow across and in-between enterprises is causing real pain to organizations. Respondents at one of our conferences indicated that the lack of interoperability is responsible for:

  • Hundreds of millions of dollars in lost opportunities
  • Billions spent on making systems interoperate or recovering from mistakes

The losses are not only financial – there are significant risks of lost lives as hospitals, 911/999 systems, critical infrastructure, and Air Traffic Control systems become susceptible when information doesn't flow.

Gartner Dataquest forecasted worldwide end-user IT spending would grow from US $2.7 trillion in 2001 to over US $3.4 trillion in 2003. And according to IDC CIO magazine survey, companies spend over 35% on integrating systems and processes. This problem is big!

Our interoperability work resulted in a new vision for The Open Group: "Boundaryless Information Flow achieved through global interoperability in a secure, reliable and timely manner", and an update to its mission to ensure that we focus on the key pain points that are relevant to our members.

We have worked with the vendor community and given them the opportunity to describe their offerings in terms of addressing the problem. Fujitsu, HP, Hitachi, IBM, Sun and many other vendors have solutions that are attempting to address Boundaryless Information Flow in their own way.

But in order to solve the Boundaryless Information Flow problem there are some prerequisites that have to be met:

  • The solution must be based on open standards
    • The standards must be expressible as profiles of standards
    • The standards must be accepted by a broad community
  • The solutions must be certified to conform to those standards as specified

Any solution not meeting these conditions is bound to become one of tomorrow’s boundaries.

The Open Group provides a legal, safe, open, flexible, and highly leveraged environment where buy-side and supply-side organizations can work together, and network on issues related to the health of information technology, resulting in faster, better, and longer lasting solutions at a cost lower than if dealt with alone. The organizations:

  • Are involved in the creation of directly re-usable work
  • Influence products and standards
  • Share information

I believe in the vision of Boundaryless Information Flow. It is a challenge and opportunity, and it is worthy of all of your attention. I believe in the mission of The Open Group, to drive the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow. But most of all I believe in the future that The Open Group is trying to create; a safer and healthier future as evidenced by the flow of information throughout and beyond the enterprise, unlimited by boundaries.

In a few weeks I will be leaving The Open Group to spend more time with my family. I am honored to have worked with the dedicated and resourceful members and staff of The Open Group that have helped expose the real issues behind interoperability and move this forward to-date. My sincere thanks to all of you, and best wishes for making the Boundaryless Information Flow vision a reality.

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