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Innovation even more valuable in hard times
The ever-changing high-technology business continues to evolve on the backs
of its innovators. Innovators are credited with creating eras in this business
-- timesharing, mainframe and minicomputers, packaged software, personal computers,
mainframe and then client/server development tools, and of course, the Internet
and its offspring, the World Wide Web.
Despite economic and technical roadblocks, this business has long been dependent
on innovators, those willing to take some considerable risks to move their companies
and industries forward. This month, Application Development Trends pays
tribute to corporate IT development organizations that have pushed the technical
envelope, so to speak, to give their firm a competitive advantage.
This eighth annual ADT Innovator awards issue profiles organizations
that have used key development technologies to build important products, save
significant sums of money, and/or allow the same number of workers to produce
substantially more goods and/or services. The winners underwent a rigorous evaluation
process by a team of consultants from Keane Inc. and the editors here at ADT.
As always, many thanks go to the group of top Keane consultants headed by Mitch
Haskett, director of architecture services, and our editors who spent long hours
evaluating the comprehensive questionnaires submitted and interviewing the principals
involved. The winning organizations profiled in this issue certainly earned
their awards.
Our hope is that these profiles will spur other companies to utilize emerging
technologies and processes to build better software for your companies. Innovation
in these hard times can mean the difference between success and bankruptcy for
some organizations. Our congratulations go out to all of the winners, and our
thanks to all of those who submitted projects for review. You're all doing the
right thing. To stand still only hurts us all.
And speaking of innovation, regular contributor Tony Baer takes a look at the
pros and cons of the complex world of real-time analysis (See "Analyzing
data in real time"). Baer wonders whether real-time analysis is for everyone.
It's very expensive, the development is extremely difficult, and for some industries,
the performance change may be less than significant. This story is a must read
for any IT unit contemplating a move to real-time technology.
On a personal note, please accept my apologies for the inadvertent publishing
of the February editorial in the March issue of ADT. Without going through the
full publishing process, some changes were made on the production side that
were not picked up during the hectic final day of work before the issue is sent
to the printer. We assure you that such a mistake won't happen again.
Best regards,
Michael W. Bucken
About the Author
Mike Bucken is former Editor-in-Chief of Application Development Trends magazine.