For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

SAP Will Retrench With NetWeaver

SAP Will Focus On New Analytics Opportunities, Not Stack Wars

by John R. Rymer, November 12, 2009

Pop quiz: What is SAP's direction with NetWeaver? We couldn't answer that question either, so we traveled to SAP's TechEd conference in October to find out. NetWeaver is an also-ran in enterprise middleware but is vital to the many organizations that . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Lean: The New Business Technology Imperative

Lean Thinking Is Central To The Shift From IT To BT

by Connie Moore, Clay Richardson, John R. Rymer, Ted Schadler, Dave West, September 29, 2009

Everyone wants to be lean these days, whether when stepping off a scale in the morning or reviewing the cost of running a successful business. But just how do you define "Lean" — especially in the context of business and technology? Do you think of Lean . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

A Surprising New Java Platform Option: VMware

Acquiring SpringSource, VMware Targets Java And Clouds

by John R. Rymer, Mike Gualtieri, James Staten, Jeffrey S. Hammond, August 26, 2009

VMware's ambition is to expand up the stack from its franchise in systems virtualization software into application platforms. The company's decision to buy Java frameworks specialist SpringSource is a first step toward realizing this larger ambition as . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

With "11g," Oracle Steps Out Of IBM's Middleware Shadow

New Release Will Also Blast Past SAP NetWeaver And Challenge Microsoft

by Jeffrey S. Hammond, John R. Rymer, August 19, 2009

The latest release of Oracle Fusion Middleware, dubbed "11g," establishes Oracle as the innovator among Java platform vendors. The first modules of Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g — the core Java application server, development tools, service-oriented architecture . . .

For CIOs

Q&A: By 2011, CIOs Must Answer The Question, "Why Not Run In The Cloud?"

But Finding A Good Place To Start Is A Challenge For Most Shops

by James Staten, Ted Schadler, John R. Rymer, Chenxi Wang, Ph.D., August 14, 2009

At Forrester's IT Forum in Las Vegas in May 2009, we hosted an analyst panel about saving, making, and risking cash with cloud computing. The session sparked a lot of interest — and a lot of questions. With the buzz still strong, and a few more months . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Complex Event Processing (CEP) Platforms, Q3 2009

The Fledgling CEP Platform Market Is Vibrant, Competitive, And Dynamic

by Mike Gualtieri, John R. Rymer, August 4, 2009

Forrester evaluated nine complex event processing (CEP) platforms using 114 criteria and found Progress Software and Aleri to be standout Leaders because of their top scores in the event processing features and strategy categories. Solid features and . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Case Study: The Doctors Company Innovates While Rebuilding Its Core Systems

Business Rules, Prototyping, And Agile Support Growth To No. 1 In Field

by John R. Rymer, July 2, 2009

The Doctors Company (TDC), the largest national insurer of physician and surgeon medical liability in the US, provides lessons on how to use business rules platforms and Lean development to raise the pace of application delivery. At the same time, TDC . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

JAVA Under Oracle: Seven Things You Need To Know

Java Standards Will Narrow; MySQL, ADF, And JDeveloper Will Expand

by John R. Rymer, Noel Yuhanna, Jeffrey S. Hammond, Mike Gualtieri, May 8, 2009

Oracle's proposed purchase of Sun Microsystems (ticker symbol: JAVA) will give it control over two of the most widely used application development technologies in the industry: the Java platform and MySQL. Oracle can't say exactly what it intends to do . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Platform-As-A-Service Is Here: How To Sift Through The Options

The Rewards And Risks Of PaaS For Application Development Shops

by John R. Rymer, April 1, 2009

The term platform-as-a-service describes many different approaches to developing applications that run in Internet data centers, and each of these approaches is suited to a limited number of application scenarios. These scenarios are evident in the developer . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Base Your Oracle "Red Stack" Negotiations Strategy On Your Oracle Adoption Strategy

Preparation And Product Expertise Are Key To Winning

by R "Ray" Wang, John R. Rymer, Noel Yuhanna, March 13, 2009

Amidst worsening economic conditions and a rapidly consolidating vendor landscape, applications professionals will have the opportunity to consolidate their own landscapes by committing to single-vendor "platform stacks." IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Platform-As-A-Service Is Here; Can It Help You?

The Opportunities And Risks Of PaaS For Application Development Shops

by John R. Rymer, February 10, 2009

The nascent and overhyped idea that organizations should move their applications from on-premise data centers to Internet "clouds" has hit platforms. "Platform-as-a-service" (PaaS) isn't theory; Forrester has found 20 products available today — several . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Lean Software Is Agile, Fit-To-Purpose, And Efficient

by John R. Rymer, Dave West, Mike Gilpin, December 12, 2008

Bloat kills. Whether it's excessive complexity in the application, its underlying platform or architecture, or the process used to deliver it, overloaded platform software and heavy processes impede delivery of the solutions the business demands. Yet . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Microsoft Azure: Low Immediate Impact But Watch This Space

Microsoft's Cloud Platform Is Coming Into View

by John R. Rymer, December 10, 2008

Microsoft finally took the wraps off its hosted platform at the end of October 2008. The platform is actually a portfolio that includes existing hosted services including SQL Services as well as a new operating system called Windows Azure. Application . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

What Oracle's And SAP's App Strategies Mean To App Dev Pros

by John R. Rymer, November 14, 2008

As Oracle and SAP consolidate their positions as the top two enterprise applications providers, more and more application development and delivery managers will have to account for these vendors' applications in their architectures and strategies. Both . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Which Has The Better Apps Strategy: Oracle Or SAP?

Oracle's Bold Next-Generation Play Versus SAP's Less Disruptive Path

by John R. Rymer, Paul D. Hamerman, R "Ray" Wang, October 31, 2008

A key decision criterion for enterprise applications is how compelling and clear the vendor's vision for the future is. Oracle's vision for the future of its apps business is now clearer and more compelling than that of archrival SAP. But Oracle's biggest . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Best Practices In Implementing Business Rules

Empower Your Business Users To Author And Maintain Business Rules

by Mike Gualtieri, John R. Rymer, October 3, 2008

Business rules platforms are a key enabler of today's architectural imperative to build for constant change. Why? In large part because business rules platforms give business analysts the authoring tools they need to maintain decision logic that is usually . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Case Study: California Association Of Realtors Innovates With Business Rules

Automating Forms Decisions Allows Realtors To Spend More Time Selling

by Mike Gualtieri, John R. Rymer, October 3, 2008

The California Association of Realtors implemented business rules to help its 175,000 member realtors efficiently complete more than 600,000 residential real estate transactions per year. How? By using business rules to create an application that automatically . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

User-Generated Applications Drive SharePoint Value

But To Maintain Application Reliability And Integrity, You Need To Plan

by Rob Koplowitz, John R. Rymer, July 31, 2008

Defining SharePoint is no easy task. It has components for multiple applications that offer functionality including business intelligence, collaboration, and content management. Beyond application functionality, SharePoint also contains a multilevel development . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Oracle Absorbs BEA's Middleware: The Impact On Application Development Managers

You Won't Be Forced To Migrate Or Upgrade, But Many Shops Will Want To

by John R. Rymer, Mike Gilpin, July 30, 2008

The best news in Oracle's plan to absorb BEA Systems' middleware products: No forced upgrades and/or migrations for nine years. At the same time, Oracle disclosed plans for a rationalization of Oracle and BEA middleware to create new platforms by combining . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Now Is The Time To Determine SharePoint's Place In Your Application Development Strategy

SharePoint Use Is Exploding; How To Get The Most From Its Underlying Platform

by John R. Rymer, Rob Koplowitz, July 16, 2008

As application development managers, you may see Microsoft SharePoint as a collaboration application. But as many shops are discovering, SharePoint is also a development platform that people both inside and outside of IT use to create intranets, outward-facing . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

JavaOne: The Next Phase Is "Consumer + Choices"

Sun Finally "Gets It" But Needs To Move Fast To Succeed

by John R. Rymer, Jeffrey S. Hammond, June 9, 2008

At this year's twelfth annual JavaOne conference, the Java Nation was healthy and vibrant. At a reported 15,000 participants, attendance was strong despite the weak economy, and the conference featured more flexible and simpler choices for enterprise . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

A Taxonomy Of Events For Your Application Development Strategy

Events Are A Hot Topic; Guide Your Team By Defining Them

by Charles Brett, John R. Rymer, May 16, 2008

Event processing, business event processing, complex event processing, and various other similar terms are coming into common use by IT professionals and even by business users. Confusion about what each term represents is rife, in part because an increasing . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

How The Convergence Of Business Rules, BPM, And BI Will Drive Business Optimization

by Boris Evelson, Colin Teubner, John R. Rymer, May 14, 2008

With change endemic, business flexibility paramount, and the lines between strategic, tactical, and operational decision-making blurring, information and knowledge management (I&KM) pros must find new application architectures for a new generation . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Application Server Quality: Review Your Assumptions

by John R. Rymer, Jeffrey S. Hammond, April 25, 2008

Which application server has the fewest critical bugs? Is easiest to configure? Has the best quality overall? These questions play a key role in application development professionals' evaluations of their options for existing and future applications. . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Business Rules Platforms, Q2 2008

ILOG, Fair Isaac, Pegasystems, Corticon, And Haley Lead, But Innovations Software Technology Is Also Very Strong

by John R. Rymer, Mike Gualtieri, April 8, 2008

Forrester evaluated 13 platforms from 11 vendors using 175 criteria and found ILOG JRules, Fair Isaac Blaze Advisor, and Pegasystems PegaRULES to be resounding Leaders as general-purpose business rules platforms. Haley Limited (Haley Expert Rules), Corticon . . .