Archives


Review: XtraGrid Suite

A grid control for .NET that's so customizable that it would be almost overwhelming if not for all the great documentation and code samples.

Briefing: RoboHelp X5

Source code control features improve the team experience with this help and documentation tool.

Review: SQL Deploy

SQL Deploy provides an easy way to upgrade SQL Server databases without losing customer data.

Review: MindManager X5 Pro

MindManager X5 Pro is a mature and flexible brainstorming tool that interchanges data with many other products.

Review: SQL Stripes

A free monitoring application for SQL Server DBAs that packs quite a punch.

SCM uplifted: Q&A with David Martin of MKS

Software configuration management (SCM) is about to emerge from the shadows cast by supercool, hyperbole-laden IDEs.

Revenge of the monolith

Q&A with Dale Vecchio of Gartner Inc. on the resurgence of mainframes.

Review: OmniView Professional

OmniView provides a serious tool for the power user who needs to work with SQL Server data.

Scouts Canada blazes trail in membership data access

Scouts Canada has installed a centralized database system with Web-based access to membership information.

A sampling of recent BI products

Some new BI products on the market.

My meeting with a legacy transformation architect

We speak with Jim Rhyne, a distinguished engineer and legacy modernization architect, based at the IBM Silicon Valley Lab.

BAM

Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) helps execs to sift seas of changing data. But a move to BAM means taking on tough integration issues.

Special Report: Right-time enterprise on the rise

Experts such as Stephen Brobst say the overriding trend in data integration today is toward an Active Data Warehouse where event-based triggering occurs. But a mix of batch- and trickle-feeds will rule for quite a long time.

On track for integration

Grand unification efforts have historically fallen short because they were too rigid, but SOA shows flexibility and promise for integration.

Book excerpt: Use force field analysis to drive integration

Applying force field analysis to Web services shows that they provide the path of least resistance to integration goals.

BPM: Alive and well, thanks

The BPM supplier crowd is also doing deals -- technology and/or marketing -- to help their wares include more real-time features.

May the portal be with you

Server pages, both Active- and Java-type, using what many in the industry still call a portal, serve up the coolest view of integrated data. We recently took a peek inside the minds of a couple of portal partisans, from different points on a vast spectrum.

It’s the mainframe’s turn to get the services treatment

They said it was dead, but the mainstay IT platform is ambling into the modern era. The mantra for many shops now is to ‘refresh and renew.’

Facts up! Teach your team to use BI

Even the most perfect BI system will flop unless project managers overcome individual and organizational resistance to change.