Application Development Trends profiles progressive development teams willing to risk corporate profits and even their own careers to gain an edge during hard times.
When the e-business application that was at the heart of its success needed a major enhancement, Corporate Express created a new E-Way Web site that provides users with real-time pricing.
Emergence of Web services fundamentally changes traditional testing methods. Testers finally lose "waterfall" security blanket.
The Web Services Interoperability Organization is working on interoperability among different SOAP-based applications for Web services.
The goal of Allstate's AccessAllstate.com is to drive profitable growth for the company and meet customers' ongoing financial needs. The new system, which integrates several established systems, improves upon solutions that required the company's network of "producers" to call a service center to complete a transaction.
Things Remembered Inc. opted to explore Web services to gain important corporate goals. To improve their chances of success, they made sure to exploit long-running, in-house efforts that centered on the IBM MQ messaging middleware architecture.
In an effort to integrate data from more than 100 heterogeneous and legacy systems, ING developed the Enterprise Information Infrastructure. Part of the project's goal was to move from a batch-processing model to a near real-time model to improve business results and comply with federal regulations.
A change was in order when Aviall found that its new stovepipe systems made dealing with the company more difficult for customers, leading competitors to take advantage of the difficulties and forcing Aviall to slash prices.
When Liquidnet Holdings Inc., a New York-based electronic brokerage, wanted to extend its trading to markets in Europe, it had to integrate back-office systems with European vendors and develop new features to support its expansion.
What would a management framework look like if Web services assume more complex behaviors such as aggregating multiple synchronous or asynchronous interactions, or using discovery or involving third parties?
Nationwide's Aries project brought together separate and mutually exclusive reporting apps built along with the original Nationwide data warehouse. The two primary applications -- revenue (premium) and cost (claims) -- were conceived and developed by separate departments with separate leadership and unique end-user requirements.
Once again, Application Development Trends honors some progressive IT organizations that took serious risks to build systems that could provide their company with long-term competitive advantage.
ETL-EAI convergence is underway. The trend, which blends ETL capabilities with EAI middleware traits, may have been slow to develop in recent years, but could gain momentum in months to come.
In an effort to streamline its expense reporting process, reduce turnaround times and save money, Weston Solutions Inc., an environment and redevelopment firm in West Chester, Pa., embarked on its first Web-based, enterprise-wide transactional application rollout.
Toolmakers hope real-time features, Web services, XML and more can bring extract, transform and load tools to the data warehousing masses.
Insufficient standards and increasing complexity are slowing efforts to tame the Web services monster; management tools are slow to emerge.
If you act smart, you can do more than survive, you can help ready the business for new opportunities.
A look at outsourcing of software development to overseas firms.
A new, scaled-back B2B vision is emerging from the failed grand vision of
dot-com revolutionaries. Austere consortia-run and privately run exchanges are
finding small successes.
Veteran and start-up developers use XML in a variety of next-generation
tools. Experts expect business to be volatile for some time.