More IT execs demand a measurable ROI from business intelligence projects, but experts are vague on the best metrics for the task.
Watch for J2EE standard specs to lose luster as leaders IBM and BEA try to lock customers into WebSphere and WebLogic with proprietary features. Now it is .NET vs. IBM vs. BEA.
Mike Gunderloy reviews Iron Speed Designer 1.6.4 and IntelliView 2.2, Designer
A look at software tools and technologies on the market.
There’s no shame in expressing skepticism that SOA is nirvana, but our August Cover Story does find reasons for optimism that the technology could benefit IT development and integration projects.
The biggest stories in recent application development history -- Amazon.com and Google -- are so big that they are pretty much hidden. Both applications required a big helping of chutzpah to happen at all. And both disrupted existing industries, creating whole new ones.
Used right, XML can be a huge help to developers writing applications for a global audience. Here are some tips that can help to ensure global success.
Development managers must react quickly to any sign of scope creep. Here is some advice for working with your customers and for negotiating your way through any potential problems that might slow or halt development.
JDeveloper successfully integrates features for all development phases of J2EE and several related technologies into one environment. While it is an ideal solution for building apps built on top of Oracle’s database and application server, JDeveloper’s lack of broad support for other environments may inhibit its adoption.
Just as painters often take day jobs to support their art, so too must hackers take day jobs with companies writing less-than-beautiful software to make enough money to write the software they really want to write. A collection of 16 essays on computers and the people who program them.
Developer lessons from Googlemania: Keep interfaces simple, don’t write off legacy and make the technology transparent.Google is a technology even our grandmothers can use. Like an oracle, you express what you seek in simple terms, never minding the underlying magic; unlike an oracle, however, you don’t have to bring an offering before you’re seen, and the answers are generally informative and not couched in puzzles.
A phone conversation with industry luminary Ken Orr helps to highlight some findings on Trilogy, an important FBI software project that is too long in coming.
Disparate systems make business process automation inefficient. Semantic integration of structured, unstructured and process data simplifies implementation of a robust SOA model.
New Mochal book does not set out to teach you about some complicated project management scheme. It simply tries to teach basic concepts that apply no matter what complicated project management scheme you’re trying to use.
IT is being asked to streamline corporate governance, but the IT house itself is not necessarily in good order. Ironically, while most companies rely on IT to implement technology solutions for running the enterprise, IT is typically the last group to adopt technology to manage its own domain.
There’s a lot of talk these days about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). They are the backbone of scorecards and dashboards, which organizations use to present performance information to executives and staff. Unfortunately, BI developers seem to focus more on creating visual metaphors than on understanding what constitutes a good KPI that delivers long-term value to the firm.
Mike Gunderloy reviews XWall 3.1 and Mapforce 2004.
Flex delivers a very rich client dev tool on the first try. This tool and cross-platform RIA will only get better.
A look at software tools and technologies on the market.
In the July issue, we take a look at some technologies that are grabbing the interest of IT executives worldwide -- wireless, Web services management tools and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology -- and have the potential to provide a significant boost to the technology sector.