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Issue 6, 2005

In This Issue:

FEATURE

NEWS CONFERENCES EVENTS THE WEB OTHER
FEATURE

Discovery: the Key to Success with SOA
      by Dr. Chris Harding, The Open Group

There is no doubt that Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is really taking off. Many large enterprises have investigated it, and have or will adopt it as a strategic direction, regardless of the underlying technology. As SOA is applied to more complex tasks, involving existing or legacy applications, there is a need for a repository to store metadata about enterprise information and services, as the basis for sophisticated discovery mechanisms. But can the Semantic Web provide a better alternative?

Integrated and Searchable Metadata Repository

Yefim Natis, vice president and distinguished analyst with Gartner, says that a metadata repository is a key enabling technology for SOA, and no long-term enterprise SOA initiative can succeed without an integrated and searchable repository or registry. SOA depends upon loosely coupled services with simple interfaces, and a discovery mechanism that enables consumers to find the services that they need.

In web-services there is a registry of descriptions expressed in the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) that can be queried using the Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration protocol (UDDI). As the more general concept of SOA evolves, many architects believe that this simple registry should be expanded to a sophisticated repository that includes content such as XML schemas and information metadata, as well as service descriptions.

An SOA repository stores and organizes metadata about services and the information that they consume and produce. It is used at design time by architects defining services and their inter-relationships, and by developers programming those services and the information transforms between them. It is used at run time by intelligent services searching for information sources. It improves programming productivity, increases re-use of software assets, and enables an intelligent architecture with dynamic connections between services. And, if metadata for existing applications is developed and included in the repository, it can liberate these applications’ data into the SOA world. With such a repository, SOA can open up the silos, and let the information flow.

There are SOA repository products on the market. According to Gartner, these range from simple registries focused on SOA software assets starting at around $50,000, to complex repositories focused on legacy modernization and understanding that may cost more than a million dollars. But there is another possible solution that could be freely available: the Semantic Web. Can this provide an open, interoperable, and low-cost discovery mechanism for SOA?

The Semantic Web

Enterprise application integration is one of the goals of the Semantic Web. Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World-Wide Web, says that the Semantic Web is designed to smoothly interconnect personal information management, enterprise application integration, and the global sharing of commercial, scientific and cultural data. This relates to enterprise data, not human documents, including data in relational databases, XML documents, spreadsheets, and proprietary format data files.

In the Semantic Web, metadata about information and services is not stored in a single, centralized location where it can be queried; it is distributed over the web, where it can be searched. In the context of an enterprise, this could be restricted to the enterprise intranet, but storing metadata on the global web gives wonderful opportunities for integrating information across enterprises, delivering interoperability, and supporting collaboration. And a distributed solution will cope much better than a centralized one with mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other organizational changes.

The basic metadata description standard of the Semantic Web is the Resource Description Framework (RDF). This describes objects and their properties. An extension, RDF Schema (RDFS) describes object classes as well. The Web Ontologies Language (OWL) goes even further, by describing more complex inter-relationships between objects, classes, and properties, to allow the definition of fully-fledged ontologies. These languages can be used to describe services and the information that they consume and produce, and enterprise data in all its forms. The descriptions can be posted on the Web, where they can be searched, and from where they can be retrieved.

Use of ontologies, and mappings to them from the enterprise metadata, can enable discovery of information and services with descriptions similar to, but not the same as, a given description. So results of a search for “component cost” could include “widget cost” data in an enterprise that uses widgets as components. This capability, known as Semantic Discovery, is much more powerful than the basic discovery mechanism of UDDI but, at present, it exists more in the research lab than in the product catalog.

So the semantic web not only can do the same job as an SOA repository, but it can potentially do a better job. The problem is that browsers and search engines for the semantic web are by no means as easy to find as are those for the ordinary information web. There is little support for RDF and OWL in commercial, enterprise-grade information products. There is a good range of development tools, some free software, and an occasional new commercial product, but the big-name information processing and management product vendors are not yet on board.

What Now?

For the present, many CIOs will go for dedicated enterprise SOA repositories. They will find suppliers that commit to solutions that meet their immediate requirements, rather than asking their internal teams to build a better solution from software that may be new or unsupported. But those with long-term vision might, at the same time, set up small projects to investigate the Semantic Web, and put pressure on their suppliers to implement support for the open standards RDF and OWL.

There is enormous activity right now in information semantics, and from many different parts of the IT community. Enterprise information management, web services, and e-business specialists are all looking to develop a semantic infrastructure, just as they are all looking to SOA to provide a processing infrastructure. The need for a semantic repository arises independently of SOA, as does the need to relate different data descriptions within and across repositories, whether by ontologies, or more directly by an indexing mechanism such as the Universal Data Element Framework (UDEF). The enterprise repository is where all the different activities converge. It is an enabler for enterprise information management and for e-business, as well as a service discovery mechanism for SOA.

One thing is clear; the discovery mechanism must be based on open standards. As boundaries within and between enterprises become permeable, the enterprise repositories must be interoperable, to enable Boundaryless Information Flow™. WSDL and UDDI are the defining standards for the web services registry. They are good standards, but not sufficiently functional to meet the expanded needs of SOA as it has evolved today. RDF and OWL can meet these needs, and support more advanced semantic discovery features, but they are not yet widely implemented. The Semantic Web has been under development for a long time, but has not yet made the breakthrough to widespread use. The growth of SOA, and its need for sophisticated discovery, could be the Semantic Web’s opportunity.

For more information, please contact Dr. Chris Harding

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NEWS

Press reports on IT Architect Certification

Certification Magazine: A Blueprint for Future Career
Certification Magazine discusses IT Architect roles and responsibilities, addresses the need to continue developing skills and knowledge, and emphasizes the growing importance of credentials. The magazine describes existing certification efforts and features The Open Group’s IT Architect Certification program. Read the article

*Software Development magazine: Getting’ Certified
Software Development magazine reported on the IT Architect certification program and interviewed IBM’s Andras Szakal who emphasized that certification is experience based, and applicants should have plenty of experience with a variety of tools. Read the article

NewsFactor Magazine: The Rise of the IT Architect
Highlighting the growing demand for leaders who take a broad view of the enterprise and quoting HP's CTO, Tony Redmond, NewsFactor reported on new requirements for IT Architects and on The Open Group’s and Microsoft’s programs. Read the article

*Computerworld: A Better Way?
Computerworld highlighted The Open Group’s IT Architect Certification as a new kind of certification that measures skills and experience of IT architects. The magazine interviewed The Open Group’s Vice President of Marketing, Graham Bird, who said: “ The thrust of our program is experience. What candidates have to demonstrate for this certification is all about doing the job.” Read the article

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Upcoming RSS feeds – call for input
 The Open Group is preparing a new offering: syndicated news in the RSS feeds format. The RSS feeds will enable members and other visitors to stay up-to-date with what is happening at The Open Group, allowing them to conveniently track updates on the site using a news aggregator. The format will also be convenient for members who would like to use the RSS feeds for enhancing their web sites with the latest news from The Open Group.

We are looking for contributors who would like to participate and submit their updates for the RSS feeds in the areas of Architecture and Certification. We welcome both regular news and occasional contributions, as well as suggestions of other content that you would like to see . If you are interested, please email memnews-feedback@opengroup.org .

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The Open Group in the Media

* The Open Group in the press:

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Irish Computer Society’s New IT Architecture Network Considers Certifications

The Irish Computer Society (ICS) launched its latest network: the IT Architecture Network. The inaugural event of the new network focused on two prominent IT Architecture certifications, the Microsoft Certified Architect program and The Open Group’s IT Architect Certification. Representatives from both organizations gave presentations at the event.
read more

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Certification News

TOGAF Certification News

The number of TOGAF 8 Certified Professionals now exceeds 600. Current status of TOGAF Certified products, individuals, services, and tool support:

  • TOGAF 8 Certified - 607 Registered Individuals
  • TOGAF 8 Training - 8 Registered Products from 6 Companies
  • TOGAF 8 Professional Services - 6 Registered Services from 6 Companies
  • TOGAF 8 Tool Support - 3 Registered Products from 3 Companies
  • TOGAF 7 Certified - 8 Registered Individuals
  • TOGAF 7 Training - 2 Registered Products from 1 Company
  • TOGAF 7 Professional Services - 4 Registered Services from 4 Companies

The full register is available online

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SIF Certification News

We are pleased to announce that the following products have been registered as conforming to the SIF-enabled Application Product Standard 1.5:

  • Educational Testing Services (ETS) — Idms 5.2x with IdmsAgent 1.0
  • Pearson Educational Measurement — EDWARD 4.x with Edustructures Student Locator Framework 1.x
  • Computer Automation Systems, Inc – SEAS 2 with CASSIFAgent 2
  • Sagebrush Corporation – Sagebrush Library 2005+ with Sagebrush SIF Agent 2.0
  • NCS Pearson, Inc – Pearson Centerpoint 6.0 with SIF Agent for Pearson Centerpoint 1.0q School-Link Technologies – WinSNAP/SMARTT All Versions with School-Link Technologies Universal Agent 1.5.
  • Orbit Software, Inc – BusBoss 6.0 and up with BusBoss SIF Agent 1.51
  • NCS Pearson, Inc – SASI 6.x with Edustructures SIF agent for SASI 1.5
  • Central Susquehanna IU – CSIU Administrative Software CV with CSIU SIF Agent 1.5
  • School Link Technologies – myCard@School All Versions with School-Link Technologies Universal Agent 1.5.x
  • Edustructures, LLC – SIFWorks Directory Manager 1.x with Edustructures SIF Agent for Directories 1.x.

To view all current SIF certifications and Conformance Statements, please see the SIF Certification Register

For more information on the SIF certification, read this.

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LDAP Certification News

We are pleased to announce that IBM registered the following software as conforming to the LDAP Certified V2 Product Standard:

  • IBM Tivoli Directory Server V6.x
For the full list of LDAP Certified registered products, see the LDAP Certification Register

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LSB Certification News

We are pleased to announce LSB 3.0 certification for Novell/SUSE LINUX Products GmbH:

  • Novell/SUSE LINUX Products GmbH has registered SUSE Linux 10.0 as conforming to the LSB Version 3.0 Runtime Environment Product Standard for IA32.
see the full register

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“TOGAF/MDA Mapping” white paper, which was jointly developed by The Open Group, OMG and the Integration Consortium, now available
The Open Group, The Object Management Group™ (OMG™), and the Integration Consortium announced the availability of the jointly-developed whitepaper: "TOGAF/MDA Mapping." This whitepaper extends the synergy between OMG's Model Driven Architecture® (MDA®) and The Open Group's TOGAF Architecture Development Method (TOGAF ADM). It is one of a series of joint deliverables expected to provide a seamless architecture modeling methodology, grounded in standard-based practices that spans all layers of architecture planning and development, from the highest level business modeling to the most detailed systems specifications.

The white paper is presented in three parts:

  • Part I: Introduction - An overview of project activity and a generic mapping between TOGAF ADM and MDA
  • Part II: Specific Mappings between TOGAF ADM and MDA Standards
  • Part III: A summary of applicable and either existing or future MDA standards.

read more

download the paper

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OpenPegasus Release 2.5 Release Snapshots now available
The snapshots are available in compressed tar, zip, and self-extracting executable formats.
learn more

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Spotlight on recent publications – RNIC Programming Interface (RNICPI) Version 1.0
The RNICPI specification establishes an industry standard for the host integration of RDMA fabrics. It unifies RDMA services support over different transports - including iWARP and InfiniBand - with provisions to allow the addition of future transports. As an Open Standard, it aims at operating system vendor and RDMA hardware vendor independence. The standard is appearing at a crucial moment when iWARP technology is coming to the market. It provides a way out of the problem of multiple de facto and vendor-specific interfaces for RDMA technology. To vendors, it potentially cuts development costs by reducing the number of supported interfaces. To customers, it provides freedom of transport choice by providing a transport-neutral interface. RNICPI is laying the foundation for wider acceptance of emerging RDMA technology in the industry.

The RNICPI specification is published in association with the Interconnect Software Consortium (ICSC).

download

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CONFERENCES

Overview of The Open Group’s October conferences in Houston
Service Oriented Architectures Conference: October 17-18, 2005
Semantic Interoperability Conference: October 19-20, 2005
In parallel with Member Meetings, October 17-21, 2005

Over 200 attendees joined The Open Group in Houston to discuss the latest developments and trends in the areas of Service Oriented Architectures and Semantic Interoperability, get information on what works and what does not, share insights, and discuss how to make the most of their IT budgets and help their companies to reach their goals.

The participants started their conference week by participating in a Charity Golf Tournament at The Oaks Course in The Woodlands, to kick off celebrations of The Open Group’s 10 th anniversary. The proceeds of $20,000 went to children’s charities in the Houston area.

Service Oriented Architectures Conference - October 17-18, 2005

The conference started with a keynote address “Linking Business Goals to Technology in an SOA”, which was given by Michael Liebow, Vice President of Web Services and SOA for IBM’s Global Services. The address was followed by a panel session hosted by David Archer, President and CEO of the Petrotechnical Open Standards Consortium (POSC). In the session, POSC members Rusty Foreman of BP, Jamie Cruise of Landmark Graphics, and Ravi Nuduramati of Schlumberger Information Systems, explored the value of SOA in the context of the E&P Sector of the Energy Industry. At a subsequent session, Sam Ceccola, Chief Federal Architect, BEA moderated a panel session with participants from Systinet, AmberPoint, and TIBCO Software. The day continued with presentations from Hans Jespersen of TIBCO Software, who spoke about enabling real-time business through SOAs and EDAs, Michael Ruiz of BAE Systems who spoke about the OASIS SOA Technical Reference Model; and Rakesh Radhakrishnan of Sun Microsystems who discussed SOA in relation to other conceptual architectural approaches. BEA’s Sam Ceccola concluded the day with a presentation on realizing the promise of SOA.

Tuesday keynote address “Security in an SOA-Enabled Enterprise” was given by Paul Patrick, Chief Security Architect, AquaLogic, BEA Systems, Inc. The following sessions included “Secure Assurance Implications” presented by Joe Jarzombek of the Department of Homeland Security, “Leveraging SOA for Business Performance” by Mark Forman, Partner, KPMG; and “Beyond SOA – What’s Next” by Chris Adams of MITRE Corporation. In a following session, David Nichols of Accenture discussed how to build a foundation for high performance with SOA, and Leonard Fehskens of HP Services concluded the morning with “SOA: Old Wines in New Bottles?” The afternoon was dedicated to a SOA Implementation Workshop presented by Ron Schmeltzer and Jason Bloomberg of ZapThink LLC.

Semantic Interoperability Conference - October 19-20, 2005

The Open Group’s Semantic Interoperability Conference discussed hot issues and current trends in semantic interoperability, and explored the requirements and the technology that is emerging to address them. The morning started with Lockheed Martin’s Anthony Perry explaining the need for semantic interoperability, followed by a presentation of John Yanosy from Rockwell Collins, who gave an overview from a network-centric operations perspective, and Russell Moody from SAIC and NIEM Program Management Office, who presented the US National Information Exchange Model. IBM’s Patrick Ryan discussed Semantic Interoperability as the new step towards information integration. The morning concluded with presentations by Intel’s Thiru Thangarathinam, and MITRE’s Julie DeMeester. In the afternoon, Contivo’s Dave Hollander spoke about Vocabularies – ontologies specialized for data architecture; followed by Articulate Software’s Adam Pease, who discussed ontologies. The day closed with a facilitated discussion “Semantic Interoperability – the Big Picture” moderated by The Open Group’s Dave Lounsbury.

On Thursday, the focus was on the Universal Data Element Framework (UDEF) and its role as a semantic interoperability enabler. The sessions explained the concept of the UDEF, discussed the architecture of UDEF-enabled solutions, and demonstrated the application of UDEF to real-world problems.

Missed them?

Check out conference proceedings at www.opengroup.org/public/member/proceedings/ q405. Alternatively, you will be able to purchase a CD-ROM of all presentations. Coming soon: downloadable PDFs of presentations with audio.

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Join us at IT Architecture Practitioners Conference in Barcelona, Spain
January 23-25, 2006
In parallel with Member meetings, January 23-27, 2006

This highly practical three-day conference and series of workshops will address the key issues and challenges that face enterprise IT architects today. The conference is aimed specifically at enterprise IT architecture practitioners and those directly involved in the management and oversight of enterprise architecture.

The conference will:

  • Examine the core competencies enabling the IT architect to define and implement effective solutions to the needs of the business, and clarify the skill and experience requirements
  • Address architect certification efforts within the industry
  • Provide tutorials on setting up and running an architecture practice; operating the architecture function as a business unit; assessing architecture competence; effective enterprise architecture development and governance strategies; and architecture and business transformation

What will you experience:

  • Participation in highly practical workshops teaching best practices in the enterprise architecture process
  • Review of in-depth case studies from organizations which put theory into practice, learning from them what works and what doesn't
  • Demonstrations and presentations on leading tools supporting open methods for enterprise architecture
  • Networking with leading architecture experts, vendors, and peers in the enterprise architecture field.

Take advantage of the early bird rate and book now! Every early bird booker will get a FREE copy of the TOGAF 8.1 Enterprise Edition book (you pay only for S&H).

For more information: http://www.opengroup.org/barcelona2006/

 

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Look ahead – Architecting to the Edge™ conference in Washington, DC
April 24-26, 2006
In parallel with Member meetings, April 24-28, 2006

In today’s real-time world, getting accurate information into the hands of the ‘edge user’– be they military first responders, field sales representatives, or stock traders– is increasingly important. Occurrences of threats such as terrorism, natural disaster, and extreme weather represent a major challenge for IT professionals, forcing them to face the convergence of traditional real-time and non-real-time systems.

Systems at the edge – typically based on highly distributed infrastructure and interaction of a large number of services – need to be predictive and dynamic, highly fault-tolerant, and have the capability to operate in real time; from gathering data for analysis, review, and response to disseminating information to end users. The conference will address business and technical requirements of ’edge’ systems, discuss effective solutions, review best practices and success stories, and demonstrate the latest tools.

Join industry and public sector experts to explore the key issues, business and technical challenges, and latest advances of architecting to the edge, getting the right information, to the right people, at the right time. Take part in three days packed with informative sessions and highly practical workshops, network with peers, and learn how architecture needs to evolve to address the increasing demands of ‘edge’ systems.

Discuss dynamic Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) in both business and military settings.

Keynote: Dawn Meyerriecks, Vice President for Strategic Development in the AOL products organization, and Government Computer News' Department of Defense “Person of the Year” for 2004

At the conference, we will also celebrate The Open Group’s 10 th anniversary - join us for The Open Cannes Awards, a magical evening of awards, dinner and laughter. Stay tuned for more details.

For more information: http://www.opengroup.org/washington2006

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EVENTS

Events of The Open Group

IT Architecture Practitioners Conference Barcelona
January 23-25, 2006
Barcelona, Spain
(in parallel with The Open Group Member Meetings, January 23-27, 2006)
http://www.opengroup.org/barcelona2006

Architecting to the Edge™
April 24-26, 2006
Washington DC, USA
(in parallel with The Open Group Member Meetings, April 24-28, 2006)
http://www.opengroup.org/washington2006

IT Architecture Practitioners Conference
Miami July 17-19, 2006
Miami, FL, USA
(In parallel with The Open Group Member Meetings, July 17-21, 2006)
http://www.opengroup.org/miami2006

IT Architecture Practitioners Conference Lisbon
October 23-25, 2006
Lisbon, Portugal
(in parallel with The Open Group Member Meetings, October 23-27, 2006)

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Industry Events

TeleManagement Forum
November 7-10, 2005
Adams Mark Convention Center, Dallas, TX
http://www.tmforum.org/browse.asp?catID=734&sNode=734&Exp=Y

Management Developers Conference
December 5-8, 2005
Santa Clara Marriott, Santa Clara, CA
http://www.mandevcon.com

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THE WEB


Top Downloads from the Web

Top 10 publications downloads in June 2005

  1. The Single UNIX Specification, Version 3
  2. TOGAF, Version 8 'Enterprise Edition'
  3. The Open Group IT Architect Certification Program
  4. Business Executive’s Guide to IT Architecture
  5. X/Open Single Sign-On Service (XSSO) - Pluggable Authentication
  6. Distributed TP: The XA Specification
  7. Security Design Patterns
  8. TOGAF, Version 8.1 ‘Enterprise Edition’
  9. Identity Management white paper
  10. DCE 1.1: Remote Procedure Call

Top 10 page views in June 2005

  1. The Open Group home page
  2. The Base Specifications, Issue 6
  3. The Single UNIX® Specification: Keyword search page
  4. TOGAF 8 welcome page
  5. Bookstore home page
  6. Architecture home page
  7. Open Motif home page
  8. ITAC home page
  9. Open Motif downloads
  10. Testing downloads

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OTHER

Final Thoughts...
If you would like to send a letter to the editor for possible publication in the future, if you have any suggestions on what you would like to see covered, or if you have any comments on any published story or article, please email us at memnews-feedback@opengroup.org .

   
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