Time to Make Tracks for Web Services
By Richard Lingsch,
eApps CEO/President,
A
Lutris Gold Bar Solutions Partner
During the dot.com craze, CIOs felt like they were under attack, but
were not sure how to react. The recent state of the economy has allowed
CIOs to take a breath, survey the lay of the land and assess the best
way to proceed. But now the breather is over. CIOs have an opportunity
and an obligation to take the battle to the enemy. Six months to a year
from now, the CIO will need to have a good answer to the question "What
are we doing about Web Services?" But wait, the CIO asks, "Is
Web Services the latest buzz word? Is it another hot button designed to
meet sales quotas?" An analogy helps us answer this question by understanding
what is happening today, and consequently what strategy should be employed.
The most significant economic event of the 19th century was the invention
of the steam locomotive. For the first time in history, goods could be
transported efficiently on a large scale across land. However, a subsequent,
and much less heralded event had enormous significance -- the agreement
among railroad companies to standardize the gauge of railroad tracks.
Until this was achieved, large-scale transportation of goods was not optimal.
Goods had to be unloaded and reloaded as they passed from one carrier
to another until a standard was achieved.
We are at a similar stage in the economic development of technology.
For the first time, virtually every technology product provider is agreeing
on a standard approach to interact with one another, (i.e. transport information)
via Web Services standards. The significance of this cannot be overstated
when you consider 1) the vast resources devoted to creating custom interfaces
between computing systems and 2) the unsatisfied needs resulting from
a high cost barrier to achieving integration.
The message is clear. Organizations must "make tracks" by preparing
to participate in the global electronic commerce arena using Web Services.
This standardization is as significant to conducting business in the future
as the standardization of rail gauge was in the 1800s. It is essential
that CIOs move their organization forward now. It takes time to develop
the technical infrastructure and institutional knowledge required to build
and use Web Services effectively, and the race has already started. Web
Services technologies are available now and the total cost of ownership
pendulum has swung in favor of the buyer.
So let's get started. The first step is to choose a construction method.
The choices are Microsoft's .Net or the Java application server
approach (J2EE standard) endorsed by the majority of influential technology
providers.
Microsoft's .Net is a product that is proprietary internally
but conforms to the Web Services standards externally. J2EE is a standard
for internal processes that vendor products adhere to, and it also supports
the Web Services standards externally. This leads to a lot of analysis
and discussions regarding the pros and cons of each choice that are beyond
the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that the end goal can be
achieved using either method. Let's assume that you have made the choice
to go with the more widely established J2EE approach. Excellent choice.
The next step is to put the infrastructure in place. Since the beginning
of the dot com phase, the J2EE compliant approach has been dominant. Improvements
have been made to both the standard and its adhering products in a relatively
short period of time. The products have matured to support enterprise
grade requirements. Issues related to performance, ease of development,
methodologies, security, and scalability have been addressed and resolved
to an acceptable degree. Unfortunately, the cost structure was and can
still be extremely high. Hardware and operating system costs, relational
database management systems, highly skilled labor, and Java application
server middleware are the four primary components.
There are some opportunities to reduce costs in the first three components.
Hardware costs can be reduced using private label "white box"
solutions running Linux or Microsoft Win2K operating systems. Investments
in relational databases can be also reduced or eliminated by using an
open source database, such as PostgresSQL. Highly skilled Java programmers
are available as a result of the economic turndown.
However, the fourth component, Java application server middleware, offers
the biggest opportunity for savings. Market leaders are IBM's WebSphere
and BEA's WebLogic, with Sun's iPlanet a distant third. The cost structure
of these products may be deceiving. The initial cost is an entry point.
Many features such as clustering, fail over, and wireless support are
only offered as a high priced "add ons" to the original product.
In addition to the acquisition cost are license fees for renewal calculated
as a percentage of the initial software cost. This high cost structure
has attracted competitors. As a result there are viable, reasonably priced
Java application alternatives available now.
Lutris Technology's EAS Java application server offers the best value
of these alternatives. This EAS server offers a rich feature set that
compares favorably with the leading vendors' offerings at a much lower
price. For a commercial grade application, a cost of ownership comparison
of software acquisition costs and software maintenance fees show savings
of over two hundred thousand dollars for the Lutris EAS solution compared
to the "name brand" Java middleware solution. This represents
savings of nearly 80% for the Lutris EAS solution.
For mission critical applications, saving costs in the core of the system
can be a dicey proposition. Fortunately Lutris EAS is a high performing
and highly reliable application server. The key to its success is its
superior design, unencumbered by design flaws of older generation products.
This design allows the server to perform like an operating system, where
all services are plug and play -- allowing for more flexibility, improved
modularity, and a less complex operating environment.
Some of EAS's key advantages are:
- Enterprise grade commercial software -- able to handle high
uptime and high performance needs.
- Comprehensive product -- includes clustering, session level
fail-over, wireless support.
- Built in support for Web Services -- including Simple Object
Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Descriptor Language (WSDL), and
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI).
- Reduced complexity -- easy to build and easy to operate using
a sophisticated management console.
- Small footprint -- software modules are fast loading and efficient,
services can be added or removed as needed
The train is leaving the station. CIO's must focus on building the organization's
infrastructure now to support Web Services tomorrow. This undertaking
is not as sexy as a dot com project, but it will position the organization
to optimize its ability to conduct business. In addition, the job can
be done within today's "reality check" budget constraints, particularly
when Lutris EAS is used as the core Java application server middleware
technology.
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