Columns
Think positively about limitations
 Sometimes, limitations can be opportunities to make things better. In this
issue, we focus on overcoming limitations in application security, enterprise
application integration and other key areas that deliver in a big way when they’re
made right.
Most enterprises have figured out that firewalls, antivirus software and intrusion
detection systems no longer provide adequate protection, writes contributing
editor John Waters in
this month’s cover story about application security. What’s
needed is for enterprise developers to pay as close attention to security as
the operations people, says one expert Waters interviewed. One conclusion is
that developers should look at weak app security as just another type of software
defect that should be eliminated as early as possible in the development lifecycle.
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Application integration evolved steadily over the years, but never seemed to
reach its final destination. Much of the work used to require writing code that
would enable one app to tap the processing of another and to share information
between the two. As Alan Radding writes
in a feature this month, enterprises that are looking to integrate systems
now have several options to choose from, including Web services and service-oriented
architectures. Finally, Radding says, it looks like EAI is approaching the ideal.
Crystal Reports has dominated the market for developer-oriented reporting tools
for as long as anyone can remember, but that may be about to change, notes
frequent contributor Stephen Swoyer. Crystal faces competition
from Microsoft’s successful SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services offering
and the Eclipse Foundation’s Business Intelligence Reporting Tool, which
was released this month. Some codejockeys Swoyer talked to complain that because
of the high cost for more capable versions of Crystal, they’re forced
to make do with plain-vanilla Crystal Reports—and its limitations.
Finally, Linda Briggs
reports on the growing interest in search engines aimed at the enterprise.
Thanks to Google, enterprise users expect the same search experience within
their organizations that they get on the wide-open Internet—quick results
and lots of relevant hits, Briggs writes. However, enterprise search is far
more complex. It’s more often not just about finding information, but
mining it, reusing it, and creating new ways of analyzing the results.
About the Author
Michael Alexander is editor-in-chief of Application Development Trends.