Dev Revival

Finally a reliable Enterprise Service Bus - Dev Guide Included!

2010-08-30T15:22:00.001-07:00

Having been a huge fan of Service Oriented Architecture for more than a decade, I've often had the dream of building the perfect Enterprise Service Bus. However, each time disappointment creeps in as the pragmatist in me weighs the cost of a true ESB vs. that of other solutions.

In startups and SMBs an Application Bus architecture is usually cheeper and sufficient to meet the need, but they always lack the features and scale of a true ESB. For larger clients, a framework solution, like Biztalk, usually takes the lead. In this case the frameworks are so cumbersome that they violate many of the rules of loosely coupled architecture. Either way, these solutions make my inner geek toss and turn with nightmares of technical debt and unneccessary overhead.

Finally this long awaited dream solution has become a reality; thanks to Window's Azure AppFabric. The AppFabric encompasses many of the components we would want in an ESB, giving us the control and features of a traditional ESB. The biggest difference is that Microsoft has moved this particular ESB to the internet and accepted the task of overseeing its maintenance. The AppFabric offers the features of an ESB without all the garbage found in a full framework solution.

After a year of development and feature enhancement, the AppFabric team has completed the first complete developer's guide to the AppFabric. Now its easy to learn how take advantage of its features without having to spend weeks of experimentation or months/years of trying to roll your own. But before you run out and start implementing the AppFabric, take a moment and read about what an ESB is and what's in the AppFabric ESB.

What's an Enterprise Service Bus?
In enterprise architecture, an Enterprise Service Bus (or ESB) is quite literally like a bus. It carries bits of data or service calls from one service to another or one application to another. When implemented properly it simplifies the management of security, communication, and maintenance of loosely coupled services.

In the context of cloud based solutions, an ESB bridges the gap between components of the service running in the cloud and on-premise applications through the creation of a facade in the service bus.

What's in the AppFabric?
While still a relatively new offering from Microsoft, the AppFabric already contains many of the features required in an effective Enterprise Service Bus. In its current version it includes the following: Access Control, Messaging, Message Buffers, and Naming/Discovery. Overtime, I'm sure it will adopt even more ESB features.

Naming/Discovery:
AppFabric, uses a URI based naming system for the management of service names. In this system the owner of the service sets names for each unique endpoint within their namespace as follows: [scheme]://[service-namespace].servicebus.windows.net/[name1]/[name2]/...

These services are registered on the Service bus and all public services can be discovered via an atom feed for each namespace.

Messaging:
The centerpiece of any good ESB is found in its messaging management. Of any I've worked with in the past, AppFabric is by far the most advanced. Most of the features of an ESBs messaging platform are found in the way you bind to services. Unlike custom built ESBs or the typical vendor driven ESB, the Bindings in AppFabric contains both vendor specific and vendor agnostic approaches ranging from the Basic Http Binding to ever coveted Net TCP Relay binding.

In Net TCP Relay Binding, the client who calls a service sends and initial message to the service bus. The service bus then negotiates NAT traversal for the client and the service to attempt to connect the two directly. This upgrade process eliminates overhead when calling services by bipassing the service bus altogether. In this sense, the service bus achieves the highest objective of any ESB, provide service management and facilitation without interfering with service execution.

Access Control:
The biggest challenge in the technology portfolio of many organizations is the creation of the single sign on process. How do we give our customers/employees one user name and password that traverses multiple applications and services. Accomplishing this can sometimes be more difficult than the development of the application itself. Fortunately, any good ESB, AppFabric included can tackle this challenge for you.

Gone are the days of Kerberos or the antiquated AD query language. In AppFabric, Microsoft went a different route and built in an open standard for authentication and authorization based on the OAuth standard. Best of all, they included the tools for integrating with Active Directory, Windows Live, Yahoo Id's, and a number of other non-Microsoft issuers. This means that it can work with most any form of centralized authentication.

Message Buffering:
Message buffering does just what its name suggests, it buffers messages from the client to the service. This allows for two key features in a SOA solution. First, it makes communication from one app to another easier even if the client is using legacy development tools or non-Microsoft platforms by communicating over a simple http(s) binding even if your app is designed for Net TCP Relay Binding. Second, it buffers messages in a queue allowing for delayed execution of messages up to 5 minutes, thus allowing your internal app to process certain calls at its own pace.

Conclusion:
The Windows Azure AppFabric finally gives .Net developers a convenient way to implement an ESB without the overhead and development cost associated with more complex framework or custom built solutions. Its one more way in which Azure helps cut through the expense of development and get us to the point of delivering business value faster.

To learn more about Windows Azure AppFabric, check out the developer's guide to the AppFabric.

2010 Saint Louis Day of Dot Net

2010-08-24T20:47:00.001-07:00

After going dark on my blog for almost 8 months, one of my favorite events has drawn me to write again.

The third annual Saint Louis Day of Dot Net has once again raised the bar of what a great tech conference should be. More than 650 people came from all over the world to enjoy some of the nations top technical talent, including members of Oracle, Dot Net Nuke, and the ever present Microsoft team. More than 50 speakers and close to 100 presentations made this one of the most informative weekends I've ever seen.

A few of my favorites:
Home Monitoring with Wireless Sensor Networks
- Jesse Phelps
The only thing cooler than a room packed with geeks, wires, and gadgets is an impromptu repeat of the full session in the hallway for the people who couldn't catch the session. Only at the STL DODN can you get a private session from the speaker. Who needs a pod cast with such a cool speaker group.

Start Me Up - Clint Edmonson
Clint covered the basic 6 steps needed to get an internet based start up off the ground. Once again, this was a well attended session. Fortunately this year it was in a bigger room, so there was no need to stand in the hall & listen.

Cloud Confetti - Jeff Ayers
Jeff covered a great architectural approach to securing & backing up data in the cloud. A much needed topic for any cloud deployment. My only regret is that I can't leverage his code just yet. Hopefully it will emerge on codeplex soon.

Better than the sessions:
However, as usual, the sessions were only half of the value. The conversations in the hall and after parties with speakers, vendors, and attendees were just as enlightening. For me the most valuable learning experience was a late night debate about the current/future states of HTML 5 & MS's role in it's development between @bgoldy & @kensipe.

Hats off once again to the STLDODN team for another great event. Can't wait until next year.

As promised, the slide decks for most of my sessions are as follows:

Jump Start: Azure	http://slidesha.re/bMkk0m
Websites in the Cloud	http://slidesha.re/9xAvV0
Managing Agile Teams - 300 level	http://slidesha.re/aOprLI
-->Precursor: Intro to Agile from STLDODN 2009	http://slidesha.re/aABSWI

New Year, New Opportunities for Innovation

2010-01-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed your holiday season.

With this New Year comes new and exciting opportunities for innovation in the Saint Louis Technology Community.

In 2009 we saw a renewed interest in continuing education and a wave of enthusiasm for technical innovations like Cloud development. Unfortunately in 09, we also saw the steepest rise in technology unemployment since the dot com bust. Many of our fellow developers and IT pros spent the holidays fearful of eviction notices and disappointing job interviews that seem to go nowhere.

However, this increase in innovative awareness and a supply of brilliant people waiting patiently provides us a unique opportunity to impact long standing change in the Saint Louis Market. With the help of well-known and well-respected community leaders such as yourself, we can initiate a change in the IT landscape that will help many of our peers get back on their feet.

Saint Louis as a community is largely disregarded and overlooked as a technical leader. This is mostly because of a lack of innovative start up activity in the local market. This vital start up activity is seen by many as our nation's only chance for a speedy recovery from the current recession. Yet in our community (unlike peer communities on the East and West coasts) this type of activity is stifled, discouraged, and even frowned upon.

As community leaders, we now have an opportunity and a responsibility to help our brethren and our community by partnering across vendor specific boundaries and the existing clique communities in Saint Louis IT. If we act together and act quickly, we can provide fellow technicians with the opportunity and support necessary to strike out on their own, to get back on their feet, to spur on economic recovery, and to produce much needed innovation in the Saint Louis technology market.

With your help 2010 can be a year filled with technical innovation and technical growth throughout the Saint Louis area. With your help, we can use the Saint Louis Innovation Camp to impact an immediate and long term change upon the Saint Louis technology landscape.

If you are interested in a change in our local market, I ask you to stand and help us in this valiant effort by partnering with MATA Tech (www.matatech.org) to make the Saint Louis Innovation Camp (www.stlinnovationcamp.com) an overwhelming success.

Coders 4 Charity - Project Review

2009-10-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

The Community Council of Saint Charles approached the Coders 4 Charity Event with a few simply requests and an open mind. The basic request could have been solved with a wiki and a calendar tool. Because of their mindset and the dedication of the team, they left with much more.

Original Request:

Improved Site Navigation
Community Calendar
Ability to maintain the site with little technical involvement

Final Deliverable:

Complete re-branding for their company -
Both internet and traditional marketing elements
Higher level of interactivity with the target market -
The non-profit's staff, volunteers, and members now have controlled access to publish content and calendar events.
Business Process Optimization & Reduction in Technical Overhead -
- One of the non-profit's most labor intensive operations was the processing of event registration and payment. The new system will handle this processing in an automated fashion thanks to an implementation of Dot Net Nuke's calendar & registration features.
- One team member was able to donate hosting services eliminating pre-existing hosting expenses.
- Another team member removed their dependency on a third party registration management system through the creating of customized attendance reports that extended the registration features.
- An additional team member reduced their dependency on a third party email distribution system by implementing and enhancing the newsletter features of Dot Net Nuke.
- Each of these contributions will have a positive, long term impact on the non-profits budget, resource allocation, and capabilities.

Technical Deliverable:
The team choose to leverage the benefits of the Dot Net Nuke Platform primarily because of the ease of configuration/customization, and the availability of a product expert. Once implemented, the team made the following modifications:

Secured a new host for the website
Implemented version 5.01.04 of Dot Net Nuke
Implemented a free skin from SnowCovered.com. Then modified the skin dramatically creating a unique design and layout.
Implemented & Extended the users module to allow for multiple levels of involvement, public profile, and account management
Implemented the Calender module to post events on the website and register for paid events hosted by the non-profit.
Implemented the newsletter module to enhance communication with registered users and decrease the dependency on Constant Contact.
Created custom reports to manage non-technical processes associated with event management, attendance, member registration, volunteer registration, and user profiles
Created an account with PayPal and added necessary javascript to collect donations and registration fees.
Added a javascript based picture rotation that allows the non-profit to graphically demonstrate their involvement in the community
Added menu widgets and navigation modules to improve navigation
Added modules to manage the advertisement of periodic, content sensitive sponsors and events.
Trained the non-profit's staff and volunteers so they could build and manage the content of the site.

Members of the Technology Team:
The success of this project was possible because of the dedication, commitment, and high-caliber of the team members. Each member made strong contributions to the project. Most importantly, the members were all focused and working like mad to complete the project in this short 48 hour project life cycle. The level of team work and professionalism from each of the following individuals was absolutely amazing.

Members of the Charity Team:
Another reason for the success of this project was the contributions of the Community Council team members. The customer was on hand for the duration of the project which allowed the developers to be truly innovative in their search for a solution. Further, three volunteers from the organization came forward to publish content. Their contributions allowed the development team to maximize the amount of time dedicated to development tasks.

Denise Liebel
Cindy Goebel
Mary Hutchison
Mary Szpatoski
Dottie Kastiger

Coders 4 Charity - Geeks on a mission

2009-10-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend the weather in Saint Louis was perfect for a family outing. Most of Saint Louis was enjoying the zoo and pumpkin patches during the last glimpse of warm weather before fall sets in. However, a group of 60+ dedicated Geeks choose to pass on the outdoor fun in exchange for 48 hours of fast paced, edge of your seat application and systems development. We made this trade because each of us was on a mission. A mission to upgrade the technology that powers several local non-profits. That mission was Saint Louis Coders 4 Charity.

Coders 4 Charity is a new type of event popping up all over the country. Typically during this event the organizers choose a non-profit or charitable organization. The members of the event then work as a team to deliver technical services at no cost to the organization. The biggest catch of this event is that it all takes place in a 48 hour window from Friday evening to Sunday evening.

To generate a bigger impact than usual, the core organizers of the Saint Louis Coders 4 Charity decided to focus on 9 organizations consisting of more than 11 projects, as opposed to just one project as seen in past C4C Events.

Surprisingly, their courage paid off. Each the 11 projects was a huge success with subsequent releases scheduled over the course of the next few weeks.

To the C4C organizers: Thank you for your courage and the great job managing this event. (Kevin Grossnicklaus, Muljadi Budiman, Scott Spradlin, Chris Deweese, and Clint Edmonson)

Value of this event:
In the last 9 months, I have had the honor of being involved in several networking events and continuing education conferences. Each of them was focused on giving back to the community and building connections within the IT industry. However, none of them was as effective at either goal as the Coders 4 Charity event.

Community Outreach - Most outreach events in the IT industry are deemed a success if the members of the community leave with additional education and/or business connections. In the case of Coders 4 Charity, there was a much larger impact. Because of this event several charities have received improved technology, business process optimization, reduced technical overhead, and an ability to better connect with their target community. In some cases, a weekend worth of IT work has significantly enhanced the non-profits ability to support the local community at large.

Technical Education - At C4C, we all had the opportunity to learn new technology products in an in-your-face, do-or-die setting. This focused, objective driven style of learning appeared to be much more effective than the traditional, stiff lecture format. The "on the job training" gave each of us insight into the products that would have otherwise required months in a classroom. Further, using a paired development approach, each member of the team was able to gain experience as a student, a teacher, and a leader. I am quite envious of those junior developers who joined us on this project. At that young stage of professional development, this type of experience provides education that can take years in a corporate environment.

Networking - The organizers of C4C choose to build teams around technical abilities and not existing industry ties. This allowed even the most introverted of geeks to open up to new connections. Further it forged new relationships in the face of success or failure. Best of all, each of us was able to see the real strengths (and weaknesses) of the people we networked with, not the facade that most people wear in the typical networking environment. As such, the relationships formed with the assigned team members at this conference appear to be much stronger than most of the networking connections formed in traditional networking events.

Looking forward:
You can expect continued support for this type of event in the coming years. Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to be involved again in the future. With any luck, we will see more of this type of event in the STL area and beyond.

Financial and Environmental impact of Virtualization in your company

2009-09-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Energy costs are on the rise, as is the demand to reduce data center and server expenses. The Green IT Movement has proven to be a cost effective way to accomplish both. It also has the added benefits of helping the environment and creating positive PR for your IT team and your company. It’s no wonder that Green IT is among the top initiatives for CIOs and IT teams in 2010.

Virtualization and Cloud computing are at the center of most Green IT efforts. By now, most IT professionals have a vague understanding of the financial benefits of virtualization. However, few companies maintain specific calculations regarding the total cost of ownership for their servers or data center(s). Even less understand the total cost of ownership for virtual servers. Without this information, understanding the return on investment, or even completing a simple cost benefit analysis, can be a daunting task.

Further, the PR associated with a Green initiative is more impactful if the environmental benefits can be quantified and reported. Unfortunately, these calculations are even more difficult to produce, so most IT teams simply ignore them. This oversight makes it impossible for marketing, PR, and costumer relations to leverage the intrinsic value generated by your Green IT efforts. Ultimately, your company misses out on an opportunity to better connect with their target audience.

Fortunately, our friends at VMWare have done the leg work for us to create a baseline for these statistics. Their new TCO/ROI Calculator and Virtualization Savings Calculator can quickly quantify both the Financial and Environmental impact of server virtualization:

Virtualization Savings Calculator- Calculates Financial and Environmental impact of Virtualization efforts
TCO/ROI Calculator - Calculates and graphs the TCO and ROI of Virtualization efforts

Just remember, VMWare is a provider of virtualization solutions. That said, this calculator does have a slight bent, because it is designed to motivate you to purchase virtualization products. However, it does serve as great benchmark to begin your own analysis. Further, the Virtualization Savings Calculator site includes a Virtualization Assessment Tool that can help you compare your needs to those of similar companies. It can also suggest a platform that best fits the virtualization plans of your Green IT initiative.

Saint Louis Day of Dot Net

2009-08-29T04:34:00.001-07:00

The second annual Saint Louis Day of Dot Net (#STLDODN or @STLDODN) was a huge success. The speaker line up was simply amazing. The sessions covered everything from Application Architecture to WCF. Unlike most Microsoft events, the tracks in this session were focused on the needs of the local development community. To meet that need, there were sessions that talked about the current job market, Dot Net Nuke development, and even Subversion. None of which would be popular topics at PDC, TechEd, or other Microsoft training events.

Near the end of the day, I spoke with several local IT leaders and a few from other mid-western states. Each was excited about DODN's offering and the value it brought to their IT teams. Several of them suggested that this show changes the dynamics of their education budget. One even stated, "My team has learned more at the STL Dodn, than PDC. Since its a tenth of the cost, I can't justify the large out of state shows anymore." - Sorry PDC

I am amazed at the quantity and quality of the attendees. The turn out was even more amazing when you consider that this is only the second year for this show. Perhaps the most amazing part, is the history of this show. STL Day of Dot net and its 450+ attendees are the result of five IT leaders with a passion for the Saint Louis tech community. I guess there is no limit to what a group of geeks can do if they set their mind to something.

Planning for next years event will begin shortly, so if you are interested in sponsorship or attendance, check out the STL Day of dot net site: http://www.stlouisdayofdotnet.com/

My part:
In recent months, I have been focused on one core principal: “Building corporate value through IT”. The three topics that most clearly add to this focus are Agility, The Cloud (Infrastructure Agility), and Enterprise Architecture. Fortunately, I was selected to speak on two of these subjects: Agility and The Cloud. Given my background and the limited adoption of each in the Saint Louis market, my sessions were focused on the strategy of each, basic implementation, and their impact on the IT culture.

I wrote this post to share the slide decks from each of those talks. Some of the information in these slides were pulled from prior posts. However many of them were not. In the upcoming weeks, I will try to expand on the slides with short articles on each major topic in the slide decks.

Slide Decks on slideshare:

Cloud Intro - Saint Louis Day of Dot Net:
Introduction to The Cloud from Saint Louis Day of Dot Net session.
History, Composition, Advantages, Disadvantages, Cloud features available in the Microsoft Azure Platform.

Agility Intro - Saint Louis Day of Dot Net:
Introduction to Agility from Saint Louis Day of Dot Net session.
History, Definition, Comparison to Waterfall, Agile methodologies, Myths & Misconceptions, Common failure, & Advanced discussion points.

I hope you find this information useful. As always, feel free to join in the discussion. Your comments and tweets are greatly appreciated.

Should CEOs stay out of IT?

2009-07-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

George Colony, CEO of Forrester recently held a private dinner with 15 CIOs. The majority of these IT Executives suggested that CEOs should stay out of IT.

I have to respectfully disagree with the CIOs who provided feedback. Having served as a CIO and executive consultant for several organizations, I have worked with a mixture of digital and analog CEOs. In my experience, the business value produced by IT organizations is significantly higher, when the organization is lead by digital CEOs/business leaders.

When I was first promoted to CIO in 2001, I could have agreed with these comments. In the analog age, the CIOs strength came from smoke, mirrors, and duct tape. Prior to the .com recovery and Enterprise 2.0 revolution, the CIO was seldom seen as a peer to the C-Level staff members. In such environments, IT was typically seen as a cost center and not a source of growth and change. An isolationist attitude often served as a survival mechanism for CIOs in these scenarios.

In today's market, business leaders, much like the consumers they serve, understand the benefits and the risks of technology. In the digital age, these stakeholders often have the technical IQ required to partner with the IT organization to affect true innovation and produce sustainable business value. However, this requires the CIO to evolve. The CIO must open their team to partnerships that generate success and results. These new opportunities and partnerships require CIOs to make a paradigm shift away from types of statements made in your meetings.

1) "The CEO should trust IT to get it right."
Statistically, the majority of IT organizations are dysfunctional. Even the most successful organizations have a high likelihood of failure. On average, less than half of all IT projects are considered successes (expected results, on time, and on budget). Any team delivered similar results would warrant interrogation and mistrust from the CEO.

Further, CEOs have a responsibility to customers and stakeholders to unsure that IT will “get it right”. That assurance is not built by blindly trusting the CIO. Nor is it produced by isolating the CEO and other business leaders from day to day activities. Genuine assurance can only be developed when the CEO and others are invited to partner with IT in transparent efforts. However, this transparency is only successful when the CEO understands the technology and the teams’ methodologies.

2) "CEOs are about making the company successful -- not on the minutiae of tech."
In today’s market, there are few companies whose success is not predicated upon the minutiae of technology. CEOs seldom have a desire to micro manage technology. However, their involvement as an informed leader is necessary, when so much is dependent on IT’s success.

3) "The CEO is about results, not tech."
For the last decade, there have been few means of producing results that are more impactful that technology. In most organizations, technology leads results. Logically, that produces a mandate for the CEO to be involved in IT leadership to some degree.

This required evolution of the CIO was recently chronicled in an article regarding the impact of social media on the CIO.

Microsoft Geneva - Open platform for Cloud and on-premise security

2009-06-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

What is Geneva?
Geneva is a three part solution to security in The Cloud or your internal network. These three components include an STS, a SAML identity token, and a RP. (Don’t worry, we’ll explain these acronyms in a moment.) This triangle of security and the open standards that power each component create a portable, federated security solution. To aid in rapid adoption, your application(s) will only need to incorporate one of the three components. Much of the heavy lifted in this security solution is executed outside of your application making it simplistic to provide single sign-on functionality across the enterprise. Since Geneva and each of its components are built on open standards, you can implement it in .Net, Java, and LAMP applications.

Geneva Proof of Concept:
For additional information about the benefits of implementing Geneva, Microsoft has created the following Proof of Concept video about the Lake Washington School District.

Geneva Components: The security triangle

STS – Security Token Service:
The Security Token Service is the core of the Geneva offering. The Geneva STS server provides an authentication service and does not serve as the data store for user credentials. Unlike past attempts at single sign on the Geneva server is not dependent on a single means of storing user credentials. In the Geneva product, one of the configurations set by the admin is the data store. Geneva can reference active directory, other STS servers, or a variety of other information sources to obtain the users identity. The STS then issues SAML Identity tokens or Identity Cards to the user, once the user is authenticated.

Since Geneva Server is only an STS or Token provider, you can comfortable utilize one of Microsoft’s hosted Geneva servers in The Cloud without comprising your user data store. Alternatively, you can purchase the Geneva Server product and host it within your network infrastructure.

SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) Identity Token:
A SAML Identity Token is a serialized collection of identity data. In the case of the Geneva system, this token is referred to as a Geneva “CardSpace”. This identity card is stored locally on the client’s device(s) and contains data specified by the user and the STS server. These customizable cards can contain pertinent identity information, such as, name, email, user name, roles, and most importantly, an encrypted key that is generated by the STS server to identify the user.

RP – Relying Party:
An RP or Relying Party is any application or device that requires authentication and authorization for one or more of its functions. This could be a secure web site, a web service, an application, etc... For the purpose of this article, we will imagine that your website is the replying party.

In a basic Geneva user flow, your website is presented with a SAML Identity Token instead of the traditional user name and password. Your site can then extract the identity data contained in the token. This data includes information about the STS that issued the token. Your website can then take one of many courses of action. We will discuss 3 basic actions to demonstrate the simplicity of Geneva. (These are not Geneva best practices)
1) If No SAML is presented or the SAML was issued by an STS you do not trust, your website can passively redirect the client to a trusted STS for authentication.
2) If the SAML was generated by a trusted STS, your website could automatically consider the user to be authenticated.
3) For a higher level of security, your website can call a basic web service on the STS to confirm the identity. Once confirmed, your website can consider the user authenticated.

One of the greatest advantages of the Geneva system is the ease of implementation on the RP. To fully experience this ease of implementation, check out the Getting started section below for developer white papers and download instructions.

Open Platform:
In the title for this article, Microsoft and Open are combined in what appears to be the perfect oxymoron. Microsoft isn’t exactly known for its adoption of anything “open”. However, interoperability and The Cloud are now at the core of Ray Ozzie’s new S+S (Software Plus Services) strategy. Geneva is one of an array of new “open” products built with that S+S mindset. However, Open platforms like Geneva and Azure do not share the definition of “open” used by GNU, OSI, or OSD. Microsoft is not giving away the source code for Geneva. This is not a free product created by the development community. Instead, Microsoft’s term “open” refers to the standards used to build this application. Rather than taking their traditional, isolationist approach to data, Microsoft has built Geneva using the SAML federation standard to manage credential data. This means that Geneva can be easily used to secure applications on Sun, Linux, and Windows operating systems.

Getting started:
Download Geneva Beta: http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/geneva
Review the implementation white papers: http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/geneva/en/us/WhitePapers.aspx

Cloud Composition

2009-06-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

In our last article, we discussed The history of The Cloud and provided a basic definition for The Cloud. This article will go into deeper detail, providing definitions and examples of Cloud subsets and types of services The Cloud provides.

What’s in The Cloud?
Cloud Services are any information technology services executed outside of your network infrastructure. These services accumulatively are referred to as The Cloud. The Cloud is comprised of three predominant subsets: Platform as a Service, Software as a Service, and Everything as a Service.

From Dev Revival
View full size image

Platform as a Service (PaaS):
PaaS is an old concept with a new name. Hosting has been around since the dawn of the internet. Platform as a Service is similar to standard, platform hosting offerings, with a few key improvements. In a traditional hosting service, you either co-locate equipment or rent storage space on someone else’s equipment. PaaS is similar to shared storage. However, thanks to the wonders of virtualization, you have more options and greater degree of control regarding the equipment, OS, database, and features that you are utilizing. This greater control offers greater granularity in regards to hosting expenses.

Several vendors provide full PaaS offerings including: Microsoft’s Azure platform, Google’s App Engine, and Amazon’s EC2. A simple Google search for Platform as a Service vendors yields more than 7MM links to smaller players in the PaaS market.

Included in PaaS offerings are several more targeted services: DaaS, DBaaS, and IaaS. Each of these are typically included in the major vendors’ PaaS offering, but they can also be acquired individually from the smaller more focused vendors.

Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS is a utility billing approach to equipment and network leasing. The client identifies the resources required. (I.E. bandwidth, server nodes, process, memory, storage space, etc…) The vendor then bills the client for either anticipated or real usage of the equipment. Many of these vendors offer rapid scaling and deployment, as well as, reduced capital expenditures.

Database as a Service or DBaaS is a specialized niche within the PaaS category. As the name suggests, DBaaS allows the client to lease database space, only paying for the space consumed by the database. Often times, vendors will also provide vital features such as DBA and performance monitoring. Additionally fail over and redundancy options are almost always available.

Data as a Service or DaaS is a focus on the data rather than the hosting platform. This concept is similar to that of a Master Data Model or Customer Data Integration, in which all data is housed in a central location. That data is then cleansed in one location and referenced or distributed to a variety of applications.

Software as a Service or SaaS:
Software as a Service, much like PaaS, is not a new technology, but a change in the delivery, packaging, and pricing of applications that began in the late 90's. SaaS applications are typically rented and not purchased. The client usually pays for software in a monthly or utility billing model based on usage or number of seats. SaaS offerings typically consist of Web-based platforms or Web Services consumed over the internet. However, the rising popular of The Cloud has lead to a rise in desktop applications and/or smart clients that are distributed using a SaaS model.

The SaaS model was originally popular with SMBs, who did not have the capital to purchase enterprise applications and were comfortable with the variable costs and instability of this fledgling model. These SMBs propelled early vendors such as SalesForce.com and Google’s Gmail. However, over the last decade, SaaS and SaaS vendors have matured. Many vendors are now capable of meeting enterprise clients’ needs thanks to the introduction of financially-backed SLAs and increases in the stability of both their pricing models and their service offerings.

SaaS has a longer history than PaaS and is largely more popular. A search for Software as a Service Vendors returns more than 21MM results on Google or a ratio of 3:1 between SaaS and Paas vendors. Many of your software vendors likely have SaaS models in place for components of their software offering, or possibly the entire package. Popular estimates predict that 30 - 40% of ISVs will offer their products in a pure SaaS model by 2013.

Predominant SaaS vendors in today's market include everything from CRMs to employment verification and even cover things, such as, subatomic and quantum physics calculation engines. This wide spread adoption of SaaS has lead the IT and business worlds to our next subset, the EaaS frenzy.

Everything as a Services or EaaS, XaaS, or *aaS:
Everything as a Service is more a trend than a component of the cloud. The world has yet to decide if this way of thinking is a subset of The Cloud or the eventual destiny of The Cloud as a whole. Eaas is the acknowledgement that everything an IT team does can be outsourced to a vendor, as a service. This trend is the Kool-Aid that makes The Cloud so popular. EaaS is the ability to pick and choose which services are vital and should be controlled within your network VS. those services that can be pushed to The Cloud.

In this model, you choose to go beyond the implementation and acquisition of PaaS, SaaS. Instead EaaS adopters go even deeper into the darkest recesses of The Cloud. EaaS utilizing The Cloud to execute key IT processes , such as, Integration as a Service, Security as a Service, Testing as a Service, or even IT Governance as a Service. This approach is viable, but not for the feint of heart. EaaS should only be accomplished by organizations experienced in Cloud development. One who have excellent vendor management strategies and excellent business backing.

Dark Clouds:
The Cloud is a mysterious, yet inviting concept that frees organizations to decrease App Dev Cycle times, increase Agility, and reduce CapEx ratios. Regardless of your degree of implementation, The Cloud will provide your IT organization with attractive increases to business value.

However, I offer a word of caution. It is very easy to get your head stuck in The Clouds. Carefully consider your implementation strategy, architectural strategy, and vendor management strategy before pushing anything to The Cloud.

The decision to move to the cloud should involve at minimum enterprise architects, developers, product owners/stakeholders, and IT leadership. Before moving to the cloud, know your team, know your solution, and most importantly know the vendor.

Remember:
• Not all SaaS vendors or applications are created equal.
• Many solutions should not be pushed to The Cloud regardless of the perceived fiscal values.
• Some App Dev and IT teams are not ready for Cloud integration.

About the author:

Brian Blanchard is a geek by trade with a deep understanding of development and IT leadership. Having lead over 100 IT initiative in the past 11 years, he has seen personally experienced many of the evolutions of the The Cloud. He leverages this experienced to aid companies in the integration of The Cloud into their corporate IT strategies to reduce IT expenditures and product/application development cycles.

Understanding the Cloud

2009-06-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

To truly leverage the power of cloud development, it is necessary to understand what The Cloud is and where it came from.

What is the Cloud?

The Cloud is the next evolution of remote services. Cloud Services are any information technology services executed outside of your network infrastructure. These services accumulatively are referred to as The Cloud.

History of the Cloud:

The Cloud is not a new concept. Similar networks or “universes” of computers were predicted by Von Neumann and Barracelli during the creation of the first modern computer in 1953. These “universes” were better defined in McCarthy’s and Licklider’s Grid Computing predictions in the 60s. The modern vision of the cloud began its incubation in 1997 on the heels of Web 1.0. Surprisingly, Microsoft accelerated the development of this open communication strategy when it proposed SOAP in 1999 and joined the SOAP alliance in 2000. This incubation was complete in early 2008 with the publication of Web 2.0 and the wide spread adoption of Software as a Service.

From: Dev Revival
View Full Image

Full Text Timeline:

The following is a text representation of the timeline above, just in case you have difficulty reading the graphical timeline. Feel free to email me if you would like a Visio copy of the timeline above.

1953: The fathers of modern computing and artificial intelligence: Von Neumann and Barracelli predicted a universe in which machines would communicate and cooperate to accomplish tasks.

1960: John McCarthy predicted Grid Computing: “computation may someday be organized like a public utility”

Early 60’s: Licklider predicted The Cloud: He dreamed of a global network everyone could plug into sharing programs and data.

1969: ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) built on McCarthy’s and Licklider’s visions

1975: EDI created as the first official data standard

Early 1990s: Grid computing gains popularity. Computers begin to link on centralized networks and share data.

1994: Web goes mainstream – Web 1.0

1997: HTML becomes a standard

1998: XML Created

1999: SalesForce.com offers CRM software in an “On Demand” program over the web.

Dec. 1999: Microsoft expanded this “Software as a Service” Concept with their proposal for SOAP

Mid 2000: Microsoft adds SOAP support to VB6

Fall 2000: WSDL and UDDI announced

End of 2000: MSFT, IBM, Sun, Oracle, and HP created an alliance for SOAP

Sep. 2001: Seti@Home achieves 23.37 sustained Teraflops on 3 MM PCs

2002: Amazon releases Mechanical Turk: Storage, computation, and intelligence on remote servers

2002: .Net 1.0 released with support for web services

2004: .Net 1.1 released adding stability to web services

2006: Amazon launches EC2 Elastic Cloud Computing: Companies can rent computers to run their apps

2006: .Net 3.0 Adds WCF simplifying web service communication and development

2007: Distributed peer to peer networks like BitTorrent and Skype take hold with developers. Microsoft, Google, IBM, and a number of universities initiated Cloud Computer research projects.

2008: Web 2.0 goes mainstream. Everyone from Microsoft to Google offer enterprise scale apps over the browser. The first cloud computing events start to pop up all over the country. Virualization hits it stride.

About the author:

How can Social Networks build business value?- Chief Trend Surfer

2009-06-08T16:11:00.001-07:00

In our last article, The impact of social media on the role of CIO, we discussed the evolution of the CIO and how social networks are adding to the role. This follow up article designed to aid executives, CIO and CEO alike in leveraging the power of social media to become the Chief Trend Surfer.

How can Social Networks build business value?
Social networks can be easily leveraged to bring value to the organization. Executive members at various Fortune 500 companies are already capitalizing on these values. This article will focus on one of the three predominant values derived from social networking: Trend Identification.

Trend Identification:
It is highly likely that social networks already contain an endless stream of chatter and raw data about your product line. The challenge is harvesting this data and converting it to viable information. Once collected, this information will alert you of trends related to your product line(s). Identifying these trends early will spark new innovation and catch customer concerns that you otherwise would have missed.

Real World Example: Padmasree Warrior the CTO of CISCO. According to CISCO, “she is responsible for helping drive the company's technological innovations and strategy…(she) pushes the organization to stretch beyond its current capabilities – not just in technology, but also in its strategic partnerships and new business models.” How does she do this? She engages the customer base. One of the ways she accomplishes this is through Twitter. She constantly monitors her 500k+ followers to find trends and topics that impact CISCO. http://twitter.com/padmasree

Value: In today’s economy, innovation is the only way to produce sustainable value. The fiscal value of this innovation can be easily monitored on a project by project basis using simple ROI calculations.

Getting started: Most people communicate via one of four primary social network channels: LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter. Create an account on each of these four networks and do a simple search for your name, your company’s name, key product names, your industry, and even your competitors. In less than a day, you will begin to see some interesting trends. You will likely gain new insight into what people think about your industry and your place in that industry.

If the results of these simple searches catch your interest, you may want to consider one of the many trending tools available. Ben Parr identified 15 key twitter trending tools (Say that 5 times fast) on his blog http://mashable.com/2009/04/04/twitter-trends/. Additionally, a search of Bing or Google will identify several similar trend analysis tools for your social network of choice.

In our next article, we will discuss the use of social network to become the Chief Wave Maker by deriving value from corporate evangelism, and thought leadership.

About the author:
Brian Blanchard is an IT Executive and thought leader with experience in multiple verticals. He has aided several organizations in establishing their social network presence and integrating their web 2.0 presence into their corporate and IT strategy.

How can Social Networks build business value? - Chief Wave Maker

2009-06-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

In our last article, The impact of social media on the role of CIO, we discussed the evolution of the CIO and how social networks are adding to the role. We also discussed one value of of social networks, becoming the Chief Trend Surfer. This follow up article is designed to aid executives, CIO and CEO alike in leveraging the power of social media by becoming the Chief Wave Maker.

How can Social Networks build business value?

Social networks can be easily leveraged to bring value to the organization. Executive members at various Fortune 500 companies are already capitalizing on these values. This article will focus on two of the three predominant values derived from social networking: Corporate Evangelism and Thought Leadership.

Corporate Evangelism:
Your customers and employees want to know about you and your company. The future of your organization has a direct impact on their lives. They want to stay informed and understand what is happening. Twitter, blogging, and other forms of social media provide a cost effective mechanism for evangelizing for your organization. Feeding your followers small snippets of information as developments unfold, gives them the information they need to move forward confidently.

Real World Example: Jack Welch (GE), Steve Case (AOL), and 19 others recently joined Del Jones to create a USA Today article entirely on Twitter.
Twitter Article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2009-05-27-ceos-twitter-reporting-capitalism_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
Twitter Evangelists: http://twitter.com/jonesdel, http://twitter.com/jack_welch, http://twitter.com/SteveCase, etc…

Value: Increasing the flow of information regarding your organization and your strategy can have a direct impact on fiscal value. The increase in productivity and morale alone will offset the cost of publishing information.

Additionally, social network evangelism will boost customer loyalty and increase brand awareness. It will engage your customers and employees. Your evangelism effort will attract other evangelists. It will keep your constituents talking. This will boost your trend analysis efforts and potentially create the Web 2.0 Holy Grail: “Viral Marketing”.

Getting started: Pick a topic, something you do that your excited about: A new product line, business deal, or business process. It is best if you choose something that isn’t already heavily marketed by your company. Write a 500 word blog about this topic in your own words. It CANNOT come from the marketing department.

Post a link and an excerpt for this blog using the social network accounts you created in our trend identification article.

Helpful hint: If you don’t have a blog, check out https://www.blogger.com/start, for a simple three step blog setup.

Thought Leadership:
As an executive leader, your insight into the industry, organization, product line, etc… is valued by many members of your organization and your customer base. Contributing to social networks and sharing this insight allows you shape and drive future trends and innovation.

Real World Example: Tim O'Reilly of O’Reilly media has shaped the open source community. Mr. O’Reilly has been a social network thought leader for some time and actively engages customers on his twitter page: http://twitter.com/timOReilly “Publisher of the iconic "animal books" for software developers, creator of the first commercial website (GNN), organizer of the summit meeting that gave the open source software movement its name, and prime instigator of the DIY revolution through its Make magazine, O'Reilly continues to concoct new ways to connect people with the information they need.”, excerpt from Oreilly.com.

Value: As a thought leader, the executive doesn’t just respond to trends, he/she creates them. Sharing your insight with your customer base and employees empowers them to think and respond. It strengthens your company’s position in the market and increases customer loyalty.

Getting started: There are two approaches to establishing yourself as a thought leader: Explain the past, predict the future.

If you prefer the more conservative approach, choose something from the recent past that few understand better than you. Share this with your network. These contributions will give your followers a better understanding of the company and the decisions you made. Right or wrong, customers and employees are better equipped to support and respond to your decisions once they understand them.

If you are a bit more daring, chose a blip on your radar. Something you think you will confront in the not-too-distant future. Explain your understanding of the situation and invite others to comment. As that blip grows larger, your customers and employees will grow more and more prepared. By the time you have to confront the situation, people will have formulated and discussed solutions. This verbose communication will transform the potential red alert into an engaging opportunity.

Either approach will shape the way the members of your network(s) see you and your organization. Each approach will allow them to contribute and share feedback. These open dialogs will shape the next waves of innovation.

Distribution: Use the post created in the evangelism section of this article to post your insight on your new blog site. Then distribute it using the social network accounts created in the trends analysis article.

Closing: I hope you found this article informative. Please share your experiences and comments to help other readers. Just remember, the executives of tomorrow will be as dependent on social networks as you are on email today. Understanding the value these networks can generate and leveraging them appropriately can accelerate your business strategy today.

The impact of social media on the CIO

2009-06-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

The role of the CIO has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. With every technology cycle the role of the CIO has grown and expanded. To understand the impact social media will have on the CIO of the future, it is important to understand this expansion and evolution.

Histroy of the CIO
Pre 1990: Chief Geek: The CIO was responsible for building complicated information systems. Very few CIOs shaved or cut their hair regularly. Binary as a primary language was the norm. Secondary languages were optional.

1990 – 1999: Chief Disaster Prevention Technician: The approach of Y2K expanded the role of CIOs everywhere to include Disaster Prevention. To understand which systems were vital, the CIO had to learn English and occasionally wear pants. To ensure funding for expensive operations, the CIO had to also learn how to manage a budget.

1999 – 2005: Chief Automaton: As we all know, the tech bubble burst and Y2K fizzled; this destroyed the business world’s confidence in IT. To keep technology alive, the CIO had to learn the business of technology and the art of cooperation. We had to identify ways to actual produce tangible fiscal results. The most obvious was the reduction of operating costs through automation and the proper application of technology.

2005 – Today: Chief Impact Officer: The successes of Chief Automatons have restored confidence in the CIO’s ability to serve as a change agent. This confidence has earned a seat at the executive table for many CIOs. To fill this new role, the CIO had to learn to be a business partner. Now the CIO must aid the business leaders in identifying new opportunities both in revenue expansion and cost reduction.

The CIO of today has long been removed from the back office and dark basement dwellings of the past generations. Now the CIO is expected to join the executive team as a strategic partner. The ability to influence the company’s overall vision of success is now mandatory. Innovation and polished leadership styles are a day-to-day expectation.

The CIO must now offer skills as a Chief Geek, Chief Facilitator, Chief Automaton, and Chief Impact Officer.

The Future of the CIO:

Social Media is forcing the CIO to learn yet another set of new skills. Engaged consumers are leveraging social media and Web 2.0 technologies to produce viral waves of innovation. These waves are accelerating the pace of innovation in the organizations who embrace them. Conversely, they are crushing the potential of others who do not embrace the power of unified consumer bases and look only to internal partners for new growth.

Identifying pertinent trends and introducing them into the innovation cycle has long been a driver in the generation of ROI. I am not claiming this is unique to the current or future market; even the earliest CIOs were faced with a need to respond to user demand and industry trends. It is the size, frequency, and source of these trends that have changed. External constituents in every vertical are becoming more engaged and are driving innovation at unparalleled rates. They are taking control of the products that impact their life. People have recognized their ability to participate in viral paradigm shifts and they are capitalizing on this ability.

Chief Trend Surfer:

The challenge of the CIO is one of a Chief Trend Surfer. The CIO must now learn to embrace the needs of the consumer base. To be successful, the CIO must know which wave to ride and for how long. The next evolution for the CIO is the ability to separate the flood of fads and hype from stable waves of innovation. The success of the CIO will be even more dependent on the ability to lead organizations that can deploy products and adopt new technologies rapidly. In essence, the CIO of tomorrow must be a proactive trend surfer who uses waves of customer demand to quickly create value throughout product lines.

Chief Thought Leader: Surfing the waves of user innovation will be a vital skill, but alone it is not sustainable. In order to maintain lasting value, the CIO of tomorrow must also become a wave maker. Making waves in the social community will require the CIO be engaged as a thought leader. Sharing experiences and contributing to the community will become one of the CIO’s new mandates. Through regular contributions to the social community, the CIO of tomorrow will be able to shape and drive future waves of innovation.

In the next ten years, we will see the CIO’s job description expand again to include requirements for engaging and leading the user community, not just their IT team.

About the Author:

Brian Blanchard is an experienced IT leader with experience as a CTO, CIO, COO, and interim executive. As a recognized thought leader and evangelist, Brian has been published and invited to speak over 50 times in multiple verticals.

Selecting the correct client technology

2009-06-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

Selecting the correct client technology is a regular challenge for enterprise architects. Desktop, Web, Mobile, Hybrid, there is no shortage of choices. For architects like myself who started with a choice between desktop and flat html, the options available today are a God send. However, these options create additional tasks for the enterprise architect. Failure to analyze and review the available options prior to solution development does an injustice to both the client and the users of the application.

To aid in this analysis, Denny Boynton (Microsoft) and Brian Noyes(iDesign) posted an excellent conversation on Client Architecture on the Arc.tv site early this year. This short 20 minute video is a must watch for application architects who are strugling with the client side descision.

Executive Summary:

Selecting the correct client technology

This video covers a great deal of topics in a short period of time:

Determining the best client technology for the product and its users.

Inhibitors to following the most suitable client technology.

Strength of a thin UX approach (View model or Presentation model).

Differences between Winform and WPF

Getting started with WPF

Introduction/Getting started with Prism (decoupled WPF development)

http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/ARCast.TV/ARCastTV-Brian-Noyes-on-Selecting-the-Correct-Client-Technology/

When Agile fails

2009-05-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

Changing an SDLC methodology is an expensive time consuming proposition. Agile is no exception. When an agile methodology succeeds, domination of any market is possible. When it fails the fall out can destroy entire kingdoms.

The following video is of course fictional. However, the script has served as the closing scene for a great number of Agile development teams. If you are new to Agile development, I suggest replaying this video several times.

WARNING: The following video contains derogatory subtitles.

Video courtesy of the Scream, Fear Driven Development team.

Agile, while simple in concept is not for the faint of heart. The best way to avoid the Agile Hitler path is to consult an experienced Agile coach throughout your methodology conversion process.

About the Author:
Brian Blanchard is a pragmatic, thought leader in the technology sector. Having implemented Agile in multiple organizations, he understands the risks and warning signs associated with a failing implementation. He has served as a change agent and a turnaround leader in several IT organizations. Brian is currently available for long-term or interim engagements as an IT Executive, Strategic Partner, or Agile Coach.

Rich User Experience: Tim Burton's The nightmare before Windows

2009-05-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's vision for the future:

Every year, Microsoft assembles a team of dreamers to compose a series of videos outlining the potential future of technology. Seldom do they hit the mark, but these videos serve as a light-hearted source of inspiration to Microsoft's product teams and MSFT developers at large. The most recent series of videos focus on the possible of living in a world inwhich technology is seamlessly integrated into our lives. I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I did.

After the videos, we'll discuss the a more realistic vision for the future and a few lessons we can learn today.

The future of Microsoft in your small business; The future bears a strong resembelance to a Tim Burton movie. Definetly cool and edgey, but Win7 will have to be very successful to fund the creation of digital paper that can survive being folded.

Note to Microsoft: If you make my office furniture fly around the room, I will switch to linux immediately.

Reality:
Microsoft is known for dreams that stretch well beyond the limits of their 10 year budget. These videos are no exception. Thank God for dreamers.

Are either of these videos a realistic representation of technology we will encounter in this life time? Probably not. Poltergeist-powered, flying furniture is not on the immediate horizon, but intuitive even transparent touch interfaces are closer than you might think. Today we see this natural interaction in mobile devices such as the iPhone and Android platforms. In the next 24 months, we will see an explosion of these interfaces in mainstream PCs and netbooks running Windows 7 or even Linux OS like Google's Android. Just beyond that acheivable horizon, we will see interfaces that closely mimic Minority Report, as seen in the following video:

Yes, this is real. Obscura's VisionAire Interface is a functioning system. It's not quite ready for mass production, but in the next decade this combination of specialized projectors and well-placed webcams will likely provide a cost effective alternative to your old CRT.

Lessons Learned:

The newest Microsoft videos are far from reality. However, these trips down the rabbit hole demonstrate the value generated by products which provide a Rich User Experience (RUX). For the last two decades, the computing world has been in the middle of a transition from the digital green screen interfaces of the past to interactions that closely mimic biological encouters. These natural interactions are referred to as Rich User Experiences (RUX). As RUX techniques mature, we will see progressive increases in ease of use, speed of adoption, and technical literacy.

Regardless of what you are building, your customers desire experiences that mimic natural human interactions. Given the technology available today, we can't meet that desire in its entirety. However, we can reap many of the rewards provided providing by Rich User Experiences and Multi-touch Applicatons.

About the Author:

Brian Blanchard is a pragmatic, thought leader in the technology sector. His passion's include emerging technology and the user's experience. When not leading IT teams, he can be found in his home office experimenting with new app dev tools and techniques. Brian is currently available for long-term or interim engagements as an IT Executive, Strategic Partner, or Agile Coach.

Re-evaluating IT’s place in the Org Chart: Part 3 - Evaluation of the IT leader

2009-05-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

Where do IT and your most senior IT leader belong on the Org Chart?

Economic decline and increased understanding of technology have lead organizations to re-evaluate the proper placement of their most senior IT leader. This series of articles is aimed at reducing the complexity of this evaluation to three manageable phases.

In our last article, we discussed Phase 1: The Business Value of IT and Phase 2: IT's needs. Today, we will review the final phase, Evaluation of the IT leader.

Phase 3: Evaluation of the IT leader:

Every member of the organization has an impact on the corporate strategy and tactics. This evaluation is aimed at determine the level or type of impact the senior IT leader will have on the organization.

At this stage, the IT leader may be a bit biased, so they can no longer make a positive contrbution. This process and the resultant decision must now be placed in the hands of the CEO, the proposed supervisor, and possibly the board of directors. The following are a few key points for the descision making team to consider before moving forward.

Points to consider:
Will the proposed supervisor have sufficient bandwidth to support the technology unit?

Will the CTO/CIO have an appropriate level of influence on business strategy under the proposed leadership? Too little or too much influence can be devastating.

Will the CEO have an appropriate level of influence on the IT strategy under the proposed leadership?

Does the IT leader possess greater strategic or tactical strengths?
Does the proposed placement allow the organization to fully capitalize those strengths?

There are many additional points to consider before making your final decision, but the answers to these questions should identify much of the risk related to poor placement.
Remember, regardless of placement on the Org chart, the IT leader can play a role in strategy definition without reporting directly to the CEO. Often times the IT leader can have the greatest influence through limited participation in leadership committees that transcend the org chart.

Additional Phases:
Phase 1: Evaluating IT's business value
Phase 2: Evaluating the IT Team's Needs

About the Author:
Brian Blanchard is a highly accomplished professional who is successful in creating vision, identifying opportunities, building organizations, and delivering strong revenues and profits within intensively competitive markets. His strengths include anticipating industry changes and driving the introduction of new products, services, and best practices to improve market positioning and strengthen bottom-line financial performance.

He is skilled in partnering with clients, teams, vendors, and management to guide the architectural design, development and delivery of customer-centric technology solutions with high ROI.

Re-evaluating IT’s place in the Org Chart: Part 2 - Evaluating IT's needs

2009-05-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Where do IT and your most senior IT leader belong on the Org Chart?

Economic decline and increased understanding of technology have lead organizations to re-evaluate the proper placement of their most senior IT leader. This series of articles is aimed at reducing the complexity of this evaluation to three manageable phases.

In our last article, we discussed Phase 1: The Business Value of IT. Today, we will review the needs of the IT organization and the IT leader(s).

Phase 2: Evaluting the IT Organization’s needs:
Once the predominate business value of IT is identified, the process becomes easier. The next step in placing the IT leader is the evaluation of the IT team’s needs and that of the CIO/CTO. Meeting these needs is crucial to promoting the long-term success of the IT organization.

The CIO/CTO like every other resource in an organization needs the following four types of support from their supervisor:
· Sufficient political capital to propel their vision.
· Sufficient time with the supervisor to understand and implement the primary objectives.
· Proper opportunities to contribute to the organization.
· The ability to learn from their supervisor and grow as a resource.

A significant shortage of any of these needs will reduce the effectiveness of the IT leader and the IT organization.

Prior to placement in the org chart, I suggest asking the following questions of each potential supervisor using a bottom up approach. Starting at the bottom will increase the likelihood of identifying a supervisor who has sufficient bandwidth to maximize the potential of the team. You may be surprised to find the best candidate is not a member of the C-level but instead a VP or director.

User demographic: What percentage of the user demographic is represented by the potential supervisor's division? Will this supervisor be able to motivate the user demographic and foster cooperation with IT?

Political capital: Does this individual have sufficient influence on strategy?

Team Support: Does this position have the ability to secure the funding necessary to support the team and its needs?

Growth opportunities: Effective IT teams need to continually expand their knowledge of available technology. Does the potential candidate understand this need?

There are many more questions you could ask of the potential supervisor. However, this skeleton should give you a solid starting point for the interview.

Join us tomorrow as we move into phase 3: Evaluating the IT Leader.

Additional Phases:

Phase 1: Evaluating IT's business value
Phase 3: Evaluating the IT Leader

About the Author:
Brian Blanchard is a highly accomplished professional who is successful in creating vision, identifying opportunities, building organizations, and delivering strong revenues and profits within intensively competitive markets. His strengths include anticipating industry changes and driving the introduction of new products, services, and best practices to improve market positioning and strengthen bottom-line financial performance.

He is skilled in partnering with clients, teams, vendors, and management to guide the architectural design, development and delivery of customer-centric technology solutions with high ROI.

Re-evaluating IT’s place in the Org Chart: Part 1 - Business value

2009-05-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

Where do IT and your most senior IT leader belong on the Org Chart?

In past decades, CEOs have assumed that the only person suitable for overseeing a CIO or CTO was the CEO of the organization. This belief is based on an understanding of the impact technology can have on the organization’s mission. Every CEO wants the ability to quickly deploy IT tools that can increase their likelihood of success.

However, economic decline and increased understanding of technology have lead organizations to reconsider this belief and other misconceptions. Many companies are now re-evaluating the proper placement of their most senior IT leader. This series of articles is aimed at reducing the complexity of this evaluation to three manageable phases.

It is advised that this process be completed as a partnership between the CEO, IT Leader, and the board. Based on the results of the evaluation, the CIO/CTO should be able to advise the CEO regarding their best fit for the organization.

Phase 1: IT's Business Value

To begin the process of placing the most senior IT leader, first identify the business value the organization expects the IT team to provide. The placement of the IT team in the org. chart should be done in an effort to maximize the likelihood of the team's success.

To aid in determining IT's business value, the following are a few real world examples of the types of value an IT organization is expected to provide. In your organization, IT most likely derives its value from a combination of these three examples. However, for this exercise we are trying to identify the greatest long term impact.

Type 1: Product-centric Organization
In this scenario, IT’s primary business value is generated through the production of revenue generating IT products. The IT leader in this organization typically serves in a CTO capacity. The IT leader’s primary objective is to accelerate the process of producing and supporting the creation of these products. To meet that objective the CTO/CIO must partner with external facing teams such as sales, marketing, operations, etc… In this case, the IT leader will require greater unilateral support to propel the IT vision. S/He will also need to have greater influence on the corporate strategy. The CEO is the most likely candidate to meet these needs.

Type 2: Infrastructure organization
In this scenario, the business value of IT comes from its ability to support the infrastructure and data needs of internal users. The organization is correct in viewing IT as a necessary cost center with little potential to generate revenue. In this case, the IT Leader serves as more of a CIO. The IT Leader’s primary objective it to control capital spending while meeting SLAs and user expectations. For organizations that fit this scenario, the CFO is a likely candidate for overseeing the IT leader.

Type 3: Service-centric organization:
In this scenario, IT’s primary business value is derived from its ability to streamline the day to day operations of the business unit. The business organization will likely view IT as a source of long-term cost reduction. The business leader will serve as either a CTO or CIO depending on the approach to reducing operational costs. The CTO/CIO’s primary objective is to generate procedural efficiencies. To be effective, the IT team must interface with core operational units. Success is dependent on the relationships and focus needed to understand operations. In this case the COO should be evaluated as a suitable supervisor.

Additional Phases:
Phase 2: Evaluating the IT Team's Needs
Phase 3: Evaluating the IT Leader

About the Author:
Brian Blanchard is a highly accomplished professional who is successful in creating vision, identifying opportunities, building organizations, and delivering strong revenues and profits within intensively competitive markets. His strengths include anticipating industry changes and driving the introduction of new products, services, and best practices to improve market positioning and strengthen bottom-line financial performance.

He is skilled in partnering with clients, teams, vendors, and management to guide the architectural design, development and delivery of customer-centric technology solutions with high ROI.

Microsoft is giving away their software

2009-05-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

Calling all entrepreneurs! This is not a pirate software scam!

Microsoft is offering a legitimate program designed to eliminate the capital expenses associated with the Visual Studio IDE and Microsoft server operating systems.

Technical Offering
Qualifying startup companies enrolled in the program will receive free copies of Microsoft software for up to 3 years. This technical offering includes:

Development products:
* All the software included in the Visual Studio Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN Premium subscription
* Expression Studio (Version 2)
* VSTS Team Foundation Server (Standard Edition)

Server OS products:
* Windows Server (all versions up to and including Enterprise)
* SQL Server (all versions)
* Office SharePoint Server
* Systems Center
* BizTalk Server

Qualifications:
This program is designed to enable entrepreneurs and startups to get new ideas off the ground and generating income. For this reason, Microsoft has a few qualifications your company must meet at time of enrollment:
* You must used the products in this program to develop a software based product or service that will form a core piece of your current or intended business.
* Your company must be privately held
* Your company must be less than three years old
(This is based on incorporation date. If you've tinkered in your basement for 5 years but haven't incorporated yet, you're eligible too.)
* Annual revenue cannot exceed $1 Million dollars. (When you enroll)

Getting Started:
Applying for this program is simple. You have three options.

1) Review the information on the Bizspark site and apply by clicking "Join BizSpark Now": http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/Default.aspx
2) Jump straight to the application page: http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/Startup/Signup.aspx
3) Shoot me an email and I will help you with the qualification and enrollment process:
contact@brian-blanchard.com

About the author:
Brian Blanchard is a senior technology leader with a passion for emerging technology and new business solutions. Brian has created/co-created 3 successful start ups, 9 new divisions within successful companies, and over 50 IT product lines. He has also served in an advisory capacity for countless others, helping them bring their organizations to market. Brian truly enjoys leading IT teams in the creation of innovative new ideas and aiding others in doing the same.

For more information about Brian, check out his Senior IT Leadership Bio at http://www.brian-blanchard.com/.

Blogging: Is your content good enough for Amazon publication?

2009-05-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

If you are a celebrity writer and regularly contribute to one of the top 2000 blogs in the world, your content was “good enough” for Amazon yesterday morning. If you are a fellow nano-celebrity your blog has likely never been considered by Amazon.

Today that has all changed. Amazon has decided to embrace the scores of budding writers, like you and I, that have made Web 2.0 a global phenomenon. Beginning 5/14, you can add your binary log of infinite wisdom to the Amazon blogging community via the Kindle Publishing (Beta) Program.

What is a Kindle?
Kindle is Amazon's eReading device. Now in its second generation, the Kindle 2 includes features such as power conservative eInk, improved resolution, and free internet access.

Software enhancements:
In addition to retooling the hardware, Amazon has made major Kindle specific improvements to their online offering.

These enhancements provide Kindle 2 users with unparalleled access to unique content:

Kindle exclusive eBooks like Stephen King's, UR
Equally compelling reading like Your Blog

Monetization:

As with all content on Amazon, the user will pay a fee to access your blog content. Currently, these fees range around $2.00 per month. Amazon will generously share 30% of that monthly fee with you. Given the small number of Kindle users, you will not likely be able to retire as a direct result of this program. However, it does allow you to monetize your content without the shameless application of CPM and CPC ads. See below :)

Getting started is fast and simple:
Setting up my Kindle Publishing account took less than 5 minutes and consisted of 3 basic steps. Amazon handles the rest of the heavy lifting. In about 48 hours, they will begin automatically aggregating, transforming, and marketing my blog.

To sign up, visit the kindle publishing site: https://kindlepublishing.amazon.com/gp/vendor/sign-in

Kindle 2 Specs:

Platform: Linux-based OS (2.6 kernel)
Processor: 532 MHz Freescale ARM-11 CPU
Memory: 2GB moviNAND (1.4GB available for user content)
Display: 6-inch 800x600 e-ink display with 16 shades of grey
Formats supported: Amazon proprietary (AZW), TXT, Mobipocket, PRC, Audible, MP3
Wireless connectivity: 1xRTT/EV-DO (machine-only MVNO on Sprint's wireless network
Audio: 3.5 mm audio jack, rear-mounted stereo speakers
Size: 8 in x 5.3 in x 0.36 in
Weight: 10.2 ozBattery: 1530 mAh Li-poly
Warranty: 1-year limited warranty and service

Analyzing IT's Religious war: Lamp, Java, or .Net?

2009-05-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Lamp, Java, or .Net?

DISCLAIMER: Be careful when asking this question. At the core of every development team is a belief that their IDE vendor is the best in the market. Challenging this central belief is the fastest way to inspire hatred from a room of full of geeks.

As an enterprise architect, you must constantly question core IT assumptions. In this case: Is our development language/IDE/platform the most appropriate choice for our current and future environment?

Evaluating your IDE vendor is a difficult process. Much of the published information regarding development platforms comes directly from the vendors marketing teams. The remainder is posted on blogs created by developers whose livelihoods are tied directly to the success of one of these vendors. Either way, you must be skeptical about any information you receive concerning a particular IDE, even this blog.

To aid in this endeavor, I have attempted to compile a "Non-biased" feature comparison of the top 3 vendor's IDEs and development platforms. Those used in this study consist of PHP 5.0 from The PHP Group, J2EE 5 from Sun Microsystems, and .Net 3.5.1 from Microsoft.

Area	LAMP	ASP.NET	J2EE
Licensing cost	No licensing cost	Expensive licensing cost	No licensing cost
Hardware Costs	Runs on very inexpensive servers	Requires more expensive servers	Requires most expensive servers
Support options and cost	Free support via community	Free support via community	Free support via community
Support options and cost	Paid support options available	Paid support options available	Paid support options available
Platform(s)	Most versatile	Moderate versatility	Low versatility
Cross Browser Support	Medium	Medium to Low	High
Staffing	Very difficult to find qualified people	Very easy to find qualified people	Reasonable to find qualified people
External Hosting	Widely available and inexpensive	Widely available, but more expensive	Not widely available, Very Expensive
Security	Very good	Good	Good
Performance	Very good	Good	Often requires substantial configuration and expensive hardware
Scalability	Can be difficult to scale	Scales well when configured properly	Most Scalable when configured properly
Administration	Difficult:Often requires editing text files	Easy:Often can be done through point and click interface	Moderate:Sometimes can be done visually
Deployment	Difficult:Often requires editing text files	Easy:Often can be done through point and click interface	Moderate:Sometimes can be done visually
Ease of Configuration	Can be difficult to configure properly	Easy to configure	Moderately difficult to configure
Configuration (flexibility)	Extremely flexible	Moderately flexible	Moderately flexible
Framework(s)	Many available – often difficult to choose	One standardized framework	One standardized framework
Components	Widely available	Widely available	Widely available
Compatibility	Very good: New versions usually backwards-compatible	Moderate: New versions often break functionality	Bad: Many problems between old and new versions
Time to market	Fastest	Fast	Slower
Database	Each platform is capable of easily interacting with virtually any data source. Sounds like another blog to me...

Mitigated by BizSpark, Express/Web Versions, and Certified Partnership VS Team Suite: $10k VS Dev: $2.5K BizSpark: $100

Additional Disclaimer: Many readers will strongly disagree with my analysis. Please post any comments either for or against this analysis to ensure future readers receive multiple view points and not just my own.

Cited Resources:
Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Platform,_Enterprise_Edition
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework
Microsoft: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/default.aspx
Sun Microsystems: http://java.sun.com/javaee/
The PHP Group: www.php.net/
Syllogistics: http://bit.ly/7gzTq

About the Author:
Brian Blanchard is a seasoned IT Leader with more than 11 years success leading multi-disciplined application development teams. Experienced as a leader and hands-on contributor using Java, Lamp, and Microsoft technologies.

Androids take over the earth, domination should be complete within 24 months...

2009-05-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Run for your life the Androids are coming...

Google has repeatedly demonstrated an unprecidented ability to enter for global domination. This time they have unleashed a creation the likes of which the world has never seen. The Android OS has been observed in the wild for some time and is now spreading rapidly causing pain and suffering for all of those who live in the Mobile OS space. This system is likely to invade the majority of homes and businesses within 24 months time, wreaking havoc on your phone, netbook, and potential all other small computerized devices.

Mobile Phone OS:
In less than 6 months, Google has forged relationships throughout the smart phone market making this OS one of the most quickly adopted phone based OSs of all time. Within the next 24 months, we will likely see Android disrupt and possibly replace the dreaded IPhone, not to mention Blackberry and my beloved Windows Mobile.

The many benefits of this new OS have top manufacturers and carriers jumping on board at an unparralleled pace. Thus far Androids have been sited in HTC, Motorola, Samsung, T-Mobile, Vodaphone, an countless others.

"Google's Android was introduced in the United States in the second half of 2008, and now all top cell phone vendors except Nokia have said they would use Android. " Tarmo Virki, Reuters

"Android is now in a good position to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years," said Neil Mawston, a director at Strategy Analytics.

Android Netbook PCs

As soon as you adjust to a life controlled by your pocket android, you will have the joy of adjusting to its PC based counterpart. Many experts expect the arrival of low cost Android netbooks as early as Christmas 2009.

Cited Articles
Reuters - Could Android Explode: http://www.reuters.com/article/bigMoney/idUS222642083020090511

Reuters - Google's android seen gaining support: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE54A55K20090511

VentureBeat - Android netbooks on their way likely by 2010
http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/01/android-netbooks-on-their-way-likely-by-2010/

About the Author:
Brian Blanchard is a thought leader throughout the technology community. Experienced as a CTO and Interim CTO, Brian works with staff and vendors to identify technology strategies that aid the client in achieving its business strategies.