MPS Partners

March 20

BizTalk as an ESB

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What is Enterprise Service Bus

As defined in Wikipedia, “An ESB generally provides an abstraction layer on top of implementation of enterprise messaging system, which allows integration architects to exploit the value of messaging without writing code. Unlike the more classical EAI approach of a monolithic stack in hub and spoke architecture, an ESB builds on base functions broken up into their constituent parts, with distributed deployment where needed, working in harmony as necessary!”

ESB Characteristics

As defined in Wikipedia, Following are the salient characteristics of ESB. We will look through all characteristics and see if BizTalk and the new "ESB Toolkit" built on top of BizTalk fits as an ESB. Following are the core capabilities as function to ESB :

Invocation - Support for Synchronous and asynchronous transport protocols, service mapping ( location and binding ). BizTalk Server out of the box supports standard protocols like FILE, FTP, HTTP, SOAP, SMTP and POP3.

Routing - Addressability, static/deterministic routing, content based routing, rule based routing, policy base routing. BizTalk Server provides content-based routing feature via the filters created on either Send Port or Send Port groups. Content based routing can be enabled for either specific message type, context properties on the message or for specific receive port or the combination of one or more. BizTalk ESB toolkit built on top of BizTalk Server has a feature to enable routing of an message based on built in Business Rules Engine ( BRE ). Itinerary can be created to use BRE resolver executing business rule policy in ESB toolkit. BizTalk server out of the box supports both static routing as well as dynamic routing at runtime and is easily configurable.

Mediation - Adapters, protocol transformation, service mapping.

Messaging - Message processing, message transformation and message enhancement. BizTalk comes with a Mapper tool to transform message from one schema to other schema. It also comes with solving complex transformation via both built-in functoids and custom functoids for flexible extension. BizTalk has a messaging engine to process messages. At a high level, BizTalk will receive messages via receive port ( and one or more receive location ), which can do inbound transformation on the message for normalization, message then is stored into BizTalk messagebox ( guaranteed delivery ). Based upon the subscription, messages is routed to subscriber via send port.

Process choreography - Implementation of complex business processes. To meet business needs on solving complex business processes like inventory control or order approval process, BizTalk provides Orchestration to create business process graphically. BizTalk comes with visio add-in to collaborate easily with Business users to create business processes.

Service Orchestration - Coordination of multiple implementation services exposed as a single, aggregate service.

Complex event processing - Event-interpretation, correlation, pattern-matching.

Quality of Service - Security, reliable delivery, transaction management

Management - Monitoring, Audit, Logging, metering, Admin console, BAM

Following are the salient characteristics to ESB :

General agnosticism to operating-system and programming languages - BizTalk itself is a server product on top of the operating system, hence not agnostic to operating system, although BizTalk can easily interoperate between Java and .NET applications using internet protocol using in-built adapter of BizTalk like SOAP/HTTP
General use of XML as standard communication language - BizTalk communicates messages from and to BizTalk using XML as standard language. BizTalk still supports other type of messages like text and CSV, but standard format recommended is XML.
Support for web-services standards - BizTalk supports web services standards like SOAP ( using SOAP adapter ), WSE 2.0 and WSE 3.0. BizTalk also supports WS-* standards using WSE adapters for BizTalk. WS-Security, WS-AtomicTransaction 1.0, MTOM standards are also supported via WCF Adapter.
Support for various Message exchange patterns - BizTalk is a publish/subscribe messaging system. When a message is published in BizTalk ( SQL database ), message can be transformed and translated and sent to subscribers. Subscriptions in BizTalk is achieved via Filters on Send Port or through the Orchestrations. BizTalk supports both synchronous request/response feature via out of the box HTTP, SOAP and WCF adapters and asynchronous request/response model also via MSMQ and IBM MQSeries adapters.
Adapters for supporting integration with legacy systems - BizTalk out of the box doesn't come with Adapters to connect to legacy systems, but there are many add-on and third-party adapters available to connect to legacy systems. With BizTalk Server 2009 license, BizTalk Server adapters are included which provides ability to connect to SAP, Siebel, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards, TIBCO, Ability to connect to Host application like IBM Mainframe CICS, IMS and AS/400. It also enables the information exchange to IBM DB2.
A standardized security model to authorize, authenticate and audit use of ESB - BizTalk supports web-service security standards like WS-Security - BizTalk also provides message level security mechanism on both Inbound and Outbound messages. Message security can be achieved either via Encryption or Digital Signature
Facilitation of the transformation of data formats and values ( often via XSLT ) between the formats of the sending and receiving application - BizTalk comes out of the box with Mapper functionality. BizTalk Mapper is a visual editor to transform the data formats from one to another. BizTalk Mapper also has ability to use custom XSL to transform the data. Functoids, a reusable functions are also integral part of BizTalk transformation process. Functoids are like operations that needs to be performed on data. It comes with set of standard and advances functoids to manipulate data strings, scientific calculations, numerical calculations, Logical and date/time functions.
Validation against schemas for sending and receiving messages - All the schemas that are created in BizTalk are deployed in BizTalk Application. When the message arrives in BizTalk for specified schema, before receiving message, a validation can be done against schema in pipeline component and be used in pipeline on receive location.
The ability to apply business rules uniformly - BizTalk comes with declarative .net based Business rules engine/framework. BizTalk applications can use the BRE engine to apply the business rule using XML document, database or .net Objects. BRE even though ships with BizTalk it is available to be used externally by other applications as well.
Enriching messages from other source - Messages coming in to the BizTalk server can be enriched before sending to the destination via Map. BizTalk Map along with functoids can be used to enrich the message.
The splitting and combining of multiple messages and the handling of exception - BizTalk supports splitting a message into multiple using Envelope and Document schema. Envelope and document schema can be then used in Pipeline to debatch the message. Just like debatch, multiple messages coming in biztalk can be combined in various ways.
Routing or transforming messages conditionally, based on a non-centralized policy - BizTalk Server provides content-based routing feature via the filters created on either Send Port or Send Port groups. Content based routing can be enabled for either specific message type, context properties on the message or for specific receive port or the combination of one or more.
Queuing, holding messages if applications temporarily become unavailable - BizTalk has a central SQL store which ensures the reliability of messages as in guaranteed delivery. When a Biztalk in a node fails, the message is picked up by another server in the farm. BizTalk provides guaranteed delivery or holding messages from the source unless it is persisted in message box.
Looking into all the characteristics of ESB and verifying the feature set available in BizTalk it does is an ESB.

Category: BizTalk

Published: 3/20/2010 9:02 PM

Publish to Web: Yes

March 01

Elizabeth Graham

ESB Toolkit Error Management Portal Install without Visual Studio or BizTalk

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I've been trying to get the ESB Toolkit Management Portal to install on a machine without BizTalk or Visual Studio. While I have discovered that out of the box you cannot install the Portal without BizTalk installed, I have also learned several things about the installation of the portal in general. And I do believe with some changes to the Portal code to use the BizTalk databases rather than the registry, you can install the ESB Portal without BizTalk or Visual Studio. Below is what I learned:

What was installed:

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition - 64 bit

Roles: UDDI (all defaults except require SSL), IIS (all defaults)

Step 1: Install .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ab99342f-5d1a-413d-8319-81da479ab0d7&displaylang=en

Step 2: Install the BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 (BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0-x64.msi)

Step 3: Install SQL Server CLR Types

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d etails.aspx?FamilyId=C6C3E9EF-BA29-4A43-8D69-A2BED18FE73C&displaylang=en

Step 4: Install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management Objects

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C6C3E9EF-BA29-4A43-8D69-A2BED18FE73C&displaylang=en

Step 5: Install Windows PowerShell 1.0

In Server Manager->Features either verify Windows PoweShell is installed or add the PowerShell feature.

Step 6: Run the ESBConfigurationTool located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0\Bin

*At this point I did install SQL Server 2008 on the same machine. Therefore, I am not sure of any failures when applying the configurations in the ESBCofigurationTool. I did however, install as an instance, not the default.

Step 7: Configure the ESBConfigurationTool->Exception Management Database

· BizTalk Server Administrators must have dbcreate access.

Step 8: Configure the ESBConfigurationTool->Exception Management Web Service

User account must be a part of the BizTalk Isolated Host Users group.

Step 8: Configure the Itinerary Database

Step 9: Install Core Web Services

Step 11: Run the PowerShell from the Start Menu. Run set-executionpolicy with parameter unrestricted.

Step 12: Unzip the ESBSource zip file.

Step 13: In PowerShell, browse to the ESBSource folder. Run Management_Install.ps1 – there will be errors, this is okay.

Step 14: Add dlls

Add the following dls to the GAC from the C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0\Bin folder:

Microsoft.Practices.ESB.BizTalkOperations.dll

Microsoft.Practices.ESB.Exception.Management.dll

Add the following dlls to the GAC from the BizTalk Installation folder (Msi\Program Files):

Microsoft.BizTalk.Operations

microsoft.biztalk.webservices.serverproxy

Add the following dlls to the GAC from the BizTalk Installation folder (Msi\Program Files\Developer Tools):

Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM

Step 15: Restart IIS and verify that BizTalkOperations web service (http://localhost/ESB.BizTalkOperationsService/Operations.asmx) works.

Step 16: Verify that the UDDI Service works: http://localhost/ESB.UDDI.Service/UDDIService.asmx.

Step 17: Open the web.config for the ExceptionServices web service: http://localhost/ESB.Exceptions.Service/ExceptionService.svc

Change the ESB Database connection to:

Verify that the web service works.

Step 18: Open the web.config for the BamService web service http://localhost/ESB.BAM.Service/BAMService.svc:

Change the BAM DB connection string.

Verify that the BAM Service works.

Step 19: Verify that the ProcessItinerary service works http://localhost/ESB.ItineraryServices.WCF/ProcessItinerary.svc.

Step 20: Open the web.config under the ESBPortal folder.

Change the following connection string values. Comment out the AdminDatabaseServer and uncomment the EsbExceptionDb connectionstring. Change the value of the EsbExceptionDb connectionstring:

add name="AdminDatabaseServer" connectionString="Network Library=dbmssocn;Data Source=(local);Integrated Security=True;Initial Catalog=ESBAdmin;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"

add name="EsbExceptionDb" connectionString="Data Source=biztalk2k802;Initial Catalog=EsbExceptionDb;Integrated Security=True;Application Name=Microsoft.Practices.ESB.Portal"

add name="AdminDatabaseServer" connectionString="Network Library=dbmssocn;Data Source=(local);Integrated Security=True;Initial Catalog=ESBAdmin;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"

add name="EsbExceptionDb" connectionString="Data Source=sql server;Initial Catalog=EsbExceptionDb;Integrated Security=True;Application Name=Microsoft.Practices.ESB.Portal"

Note: If you get errors on the portal, I recommend changing the tag in the web.config until you get it resolved:

From: customErrors mode="On" defaultRedirect="ErrorDisplay.htm"

To: customErrors mode="Off"

I got the point where I was getting the error:

Error 204999: Could not locate the BizTalk Registry key. The service must be deployed to a BizTalk Server. Reg Key Lookup 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\BizTalk Server\3.0\Administration'.

The BizTalkOperations service uses the BizTalk.OM to get the list of applications in the BizTalk Server Group. The portal should be changed to take the Server Name and Database name of the BizTalk Managment Database and get the applications using the connection string.

Category: BizTalk

Published: 3/1/2010 8:37 AM

Publish to Web: Yes

February 23

Ashish Talati

BizTalk ESB Toolkit

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What is Enterprise Service Bus

BizTalk ESB Toolkit

BizTalk Server 2009 has publish/subscribe messaging architecture. Publish/Subscribe mechanism is achieved in BizTalk via creating message subscription. Message can be subscribed in BizTalk via either Receive Port in Orchestration or through Send Port Filters. With BizTalk it is type of the messages which triggers the workflow. Along the way when message arrives in BizTalk, it can be validated, transformed and routed to subscribers. BizTalk Server 2009 out of the box includes common “Bus” features like message routing, message validation, message transformation, Business workflow engine, and BAM and WCF service integration.

BizTalk ESB Toolkit is built on top of BizTalk Server 2009. It is extension providing new capabilities enabling loose coupling, flexibility and re-usability. It is not the product by itself; you need BizTalk Server 2009 to be able to use BizTalk ESB Toolkit.

Why BizTalk ESB Toolkit?

Let’s think about typical BizTalk message processing. When inbound message is received in BizTalk Messagebox database, after message enrichment, transformation it is routed to subscribers. To be able to react and route the inbound message, BizTalk needs to know about every single message that it is processing. To process the inbound message, proper configuration needs to be done possibly at design time. For large complex solution it could become difficult to maintain the applications.

This is where BizTalk ESB toolkit comes into play. ESB Toolkit is extension to BizTalk Server 2009 capabilities, providing “Generic Message” model with loosely-coupled architecture, reusability and ability to adapt quickly business changes. It offers, set of “Pick and Choose” BizTalk Server components to resolve specific problems.

At very high level BizTalk ESB Toolkit offers:

Itinerary based routing for dynamic resolution of message routing.
Centralized Repository to store itineraries
It’s Adapter and Resolver framework provides decoupling feature for runtime resolution and transformation.
Ability to connect to multiple systems by providing components/services to route message to LOB adapters, Integrating with JMS via Websphere MQ adapters, ability to normalize XML message namespaces.
Centralized exception management framework and Portal.
Ability to fix the fault/error message and resubmit using exception management portal.
Using BizTalk’s BAM (Business Activity Monitoring) components, all Itineraries can be tracked and viewed in BAM Portal.
Out of the box integration with third party SOA governance tools.

Architecture of BizTalk ESB Toolkit

Image Copyrighted by Microsoft (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee250086(BTS.10).aspx )

Components of ESB Toolkit

Web Services

On-Ramp Web Services

ESB Toolkit comes with both ASP.NET ( asmx ) as well as new WCF version of Itinerary services. Itinerary Services exposes one method to client that accepts “Generic” XML message. Itinerary Web service will pass the payload to Pipeline component verifying metadata and processing instruction defining the services to execute.

Resolver Web Service

ESB Toolkit offers dynamic resolution via its Resolver Framework. Resolver Web service can be called by external applications to find out information about message delivery, transformation and itineraries at run-time. ESB Toolkit out of the box offers resolving via UDDI, BRE, LDAP, and XPATH or via Itinerary Store. Both ASP.NET and WCF version of Resolver service are provided by ESB Toolkit

Transformation Web Service

To be able to transform the message in BizTalk, incoming message will be persisted in Messagebox first, transformation will be applied to incoming message (via BizTalk maps) and then transformed messages will be sent. A transformation web service allows executing BizTalk maps without Messagebox persistence. ESB Toolkit contains both ASP.NET as well as WCF version of transformation service.

Exception Handling Web Service

ESB Toolkit comes with Exception Management framework and Management Portal. Both Exception management framework and Portal are independent of BizTalk Server 2009. Since both work as individual component, Fault message/Error Message can be published to Portal by any external application. External application can create the exception message and submit it to ESB Exception management Portal via Exception Handling Web service. Ability for external application to submit exception message provides the benefit to manage and maintain single source for all exceptions within the solution.

UDDI Service

BizTalk Operation Web Service

One of the Exception Management Portal feature is to filter the exception message based on BizTalk application. Exception management Portal uses BizTalk Operation Web service to get list of all applications installed in BizTalk. BizTalk Operation web services exposes information about BizTalk specific objects and messages. It exposes methods to list applications, display application status, Information about host; receive Locations, Send Ports and messages. Web services get this information from BizTalk management databases using WMI, or BizTalk APIs.

Management Portal

ESB Toolkit includes an ASP.NET web-based application providing visibility into all exceptions generated via message flowing through ESB. It has ability to capture original message while message was flowing through ESB, as well as its associated context properties (specific to BizTalk Server) to further help debug message failure. Management Portal also has inbuilt feature to subscribe to specific fault message as well as get notification via email for exception message subscription. Management portal, using Microsoft Charts, provides range of charts displaying information on exception messages by Error Type, by Application, exception over time. It also displays aggregate view of all “Alerts” generated for an application over time, along with alert subscriptions over time.

Framework (Exception management, Adapter, Resolver)

ESB Toolkit comes with APIs for exception messages and message resolution. Exception Management framework API can be used to create Fault message either externally via application using Exception web service or through Orchestrations. Framework also provides feature to normalize the exception message and apply BAM tracking. Normalizing and submitting the exception message and BAM tracking can be enabled in ESB Toolkit via custom pipeline components.

Resolver framework can be use to resolve metadata at runtime (transformation, endpoint and routing). Out of the box, BizTalk ESB Toolkit offers dynamic endpoint resolution via UDDI, BRE, and XPATH as well as via BizTalk artifact resolution like SQL, BRE. Upon resolution, Adapter Framework act as bridge between .net and BizTalk based Components, setting properties for appropriate BizTalk adapters.

For more information or to request a demonstration of how BizTalk ESB Toolkit would work for your specific organizations, contact Ashish Talati @ ashish.talati@mpspartners.com

Category: BizTalk

Published: 2/23/2010 8:33 AM

Publish to Web: Yes

February 13

Naresh D Koka

Key Points Shared at MPS Partners’ Webinar Unleash the Value

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Learn How to Improve Return on your SAP Investment

By Naresh D Koka, Vice President of Industry Group

Determining the "value" a company achieves in its software investments has always been subjective and often provokes debate. What is not subjective however, are the key steps that companies can take to maximize return on SAP investments. There was much conversation during last week’s Webinar, Unleash the Value: Learn How to Improve Return on your SAP Investment, on SAP integration and interoperability. Here we offer a review of key takeaways from the Webinar; all of which focus on easy-to-implement strategies to turn your SAP investment into a revenue-driving tool.

At the outset, participants learned that by taking advantage of the people-ready Microsoft toolset, maximization of SAP adoption is really possible, and Microsoft | SAP integration is much less complicated than rumor has it. Like many successful experiences, the foundation for successful SAP integration begins with complete assessment of Microsoft and SAP landscape.

Making Connections Productive

We first discussed the fact that SAP is the business process engine—it knows the work to be done; and the Microsoft toolset knows the information workers who need to perform that work. Once this relationship was established, we turned our conversation to learning how together SAP and Microsoft create the opportunity to compose important disparate data and get it into the hands of decision-makers in an easy-to-understand format.

As with any business process, once the connection between SAP and Microsoft is established, it’s important to determine specific goals. Some integration goals that I believe are important to include are:

Bridging the gap between rigid business processes and the familiar, collaborative work environment of Microsoft Office System users, and ultimately connecting people, processes, and information. Providing access to valuable back-end structured data from SAP and other sources for faster, more informed decision-making throughout the organization.

How Does Integration Actually Work? Key Steps

As I shared with the group, the process for integration is seamless, yet the results are quite dramatic. The diagram below demonstrates the process for integration. This process is built on the premise of creating an incredibly easy-to-use series of user experiences that build on customers’ existing SAP investments through the Microsoft toolset, making it easy for customers to harness the information contained within SAP in a way that makes sense to them, and then transmit it just as easily to key decision-makers.

The wide array of tools within the Microsoft landscape that can be used for SAP Integration include:

Function	Tool
Increase Productivity with Familiar Environment	Office Business Application (OBA) SharePoint
Drive Business Performance	Microsoft Analysis Services Excel Services Performance Point Power Pivot
Driving Innovation	Microsoft Surface Silverlight
Optimizing the SAP Infrastructure	Microsoft SQL Server
Leveraging Broad.NET Ecosystem	With Partners like Sitrion Bluespring SOA Software

Aha Moment!

Another point shared during last week’s Webinar is one that will resonate more and more as our workforce continues to take on Generation Y. SAP integration essentially mocks an environment that young workers entering the workforce are used to. This emerging group had an e-mail address before a personal phone and have used the Internet since they started school. Coupled with the fact that things like social media, instant messaging and SMS texting are already the norm with this audience, they’ll be expecting similar collaboration in the workplace.

Productivity

The Microsoft toolset provides an IT department enough ammunition to create solutions that:

are reusable
take shorter time to market
have better user experience and are intuitive
reduce the learning curve for the end user

Value Verified

Finally, I shared that the value of SAP integration is that through partnerships, you can quickly realize the following:

Enhanced Business Productivity

Process efficiency
Drive and enforce business processes
Predictability
Structure
High level of enforcement

Personal Productivity

People efficiency
Individual and group productivity
Collaboration
Adaptability

I think it helps to think about integrating SAP in this way: on a daily basis, business critical data are entered into SAP, e-mails are sent back and forth for approvals, mission-critical documents are transferred from one person to another, data is added and updated in external applications, and systems are analyzed. Wouldn’t it be most productive, and frankly convenient, to merge this information, have a cohesive business process, consistent view of enterprise data and be able to provide decision-makers with decision-making information at the drop of a hat? Microsoft integration leads to that level of synchronization and as a result, provides value in typical daily business interactions across the organization.

For more information or to request a demonstration of how SAP and Microsoft integration would work for your specific organization, contact Naresh D Koka at naresh.koka@mpspartners.com.

Look for details on future Webinars where we will take apart SAP integration and focus on distinct areas of benefit. Stay tuned for our next Webinar Unleash the SAP Value: Learn How to Provide Self Service Through SharePoint on May 5, 2010. Click here for more information or contact Naresh D Koka at naresh.koka@mpspartners.com.

Category: SAP Integration

Published: 2/13/2010 1:35 AM

Publish to Web: Yes

January 29

Chris Kabat

Forecasting the Future: The Promise and Reality of Cloud Computing

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Chicago IT Leaders Share Their Views on the Future of the Cloud

By Chris Kabat, Vice President – Connected Business Systems, MPS Partners

It’s no wonder many IT professionals are still on the fence about cloud computing. As we heard during the recent Illinois Technology Association (ITA) Cloud Computing Roundtable, where we discussed and debated the findings from the MPS Partners and Microsoft pulse survey, The Future of Cloud Computing: Is “The Cloud” the Next Revolutionary Change for IT?, there’s a mixed bag of IT organizations that use the cloud (around 25% of attendees and 34% of survey respondents) and those who see it as a technology that will change IT operations over the next 10 years (86% of survey respondents).

What are the reasons for this dichotomy? The valuable roundtable discussion, which was chaired by MPS Partners, revealed that there are solid reasons to embrace this emerging technology. At the same time, conversations exposed that there are still many unanswered questions about cloud computing and concerns that are keeping arms only halfway up in the reach for the clouds.

Pros of Cloud Computing

Lower Costs. The number one reason cited for implementing a cloud computing strategy was cost reduction. The conversation concurred with survey findings where respondents cited more capacity for less money, greater functionality for less money and lower total cost of ownership as top reasons for adopting the cloud. While these reasons are accurate, there was discussion around whether at some point focusing just on cost made the cloud a non-sustainable business model. Rather, we should focus on how the cloud eliminates other barriers and truly makes a business more agile.
Agility. Cloud computing opens the door for adaptability and allows IT to act quickly on changes needed from the business side of the table. As one attendee shared, if you’re a large enterprise and the sales organization decides it wants to implement a CRM system, but IT doesn’t have the time or it’s not a priority for them, you’re stuck. With the cloud, IT is able to respond to such a request quickly rather than running the risk of the business getting frustrated and doing it themselves with a tool like SalesForce.com. There was some sentiment that if you’re in IT and the cloud isn’t part of your current or near-term strategy the business side will find ways to take care of their needs without you.
Ease for Start-ups. The group agreed that making a cloud computing investment is easiest for start-up companies. Starting new, you’d likely put all tools on the cloud and make it your foundation. For larger or more established companies, some say it’s not as easy because of all the intricacies built over the years and multiple components that would need to be moved over, possibly making it a multi-year initiative. Others say that companies need to make upgrades to systems anyway, so why not move functions to the cloud then as you would a normal part of business.

Cons of Cloud Computing

Cloud Definition. Part of the hesitancy by many organizations to embrace the cloud is the lack of understanding about the technology itself. The group concurred that cloud computing can be different things to different organizations depending on needs. In its simplest form, the cloud, whose term is a metaphor for the Internet, is a paradigm shift where technologies are housed on the Internet instead of on an internal server—making access to all applications and documents available anywhere and anytime. We also achieved consensus that the diagram (featured below) did a good job of representing cloud computing models across the three main components: Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and Software as a Service.

Security/Privacy. As reported in the survey, security also proved to be a top concern for the cloud in this discussion. How secure is the cloud? Can unauthorized users access your data? Are privacy regulations being followed or is compliance at risk? One attendee expressed that security is all perception as the reality is that someone can hack into data on the cloud just as easily as they can internally and further described it as an “old school mentality” to keep data inside for security purposes. Most participants agreed that it’s always best to ask about security measures, regardless.
Job Security. In larger organizations there seems to be a real sense of fear that moving infrastructure to the cloud could mean reduction in jobs. The reality is, there’s still monitoring and maintenance and all the same responsibilities with the cloud—there’s just not a box (or multiple boxes!) sitting in a physical location. By outsourcing function to the cloud, it can actually free up time to focus on the business challenges that help your business.

There is still great debate about cloud computing and its role as a business strategy. This debate is likely to continue for some time. Some see the cloud like the Internet or e-mail—businesses eventually gravitated in those directions regardless of an early investment. Many feel the same about the cloud—they believe a strategy is not necessary, as their business will gravitate naturally. That being said, companies whose IT teams look at the cloud as a business strategy and an opportunity to bring down barriers to making the business more agile will have a jumpstart. All indications point to the cloud being here to stay; so adoption of this promising technology becomes not a question of if, but when.

The ITA Cloud Computing Roundtable series is intended to help increase the knowledge and resources of IT leaders and professionals seeking to advance business performance by way of the cloud. Please join us for the next Cloud Computing Roundtable on March 18 in Chicago, by registering here. We also invite you to join the discussion as part of the roundtable LinkedIn group, where we’ll request input on questions for the next cloud computing pulse survey and post a link to participate upon launch.

Please visit www.mpspartners.com/cloud or e-mail chris.kabat@mpspartners.com for more information.

Category: Cloud

Published: 1/29/2010 6:19 PM

Publish to Web: Yes

March 20

BizTalk as an ESB

What is Enterprise Service Bus

ESB Characteristics

March 01

ESB Toolkit Error Management Portal Install without Visual Studio or BizTalk

February 23

BizTalk ESB Toolkit

What is Enterprise Service Bus

BizTalk ESB Toolkit

Why BizTalk ESB Toolkit?

Architecture of BizTalk ESB Toolkit

Components of ESB Toolkit

February 13

Key Points Shared at MPS Partners’ Webinar Unleash the Value

Learn How to Improve Return on your SAP Investment

By Naresh D Koka, Vice President of Industry Group

Making Connections Productive

How Does Integration Actually Work? Key Steps

Aha Moment!

January 29

Forecasting the Future: The Promise and Reality of Cloud Computing

Bloggers

MPS Partners

Disclaimer

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