Application Development Trends' News


Requirements guru shares 'cosmic truths'

Requirements are the foundation of every software development project. Good, bad, or ugly, everything gets built on them. Karl E. Wiegers believes that developers can put a little rebar in that foundation by recognizing a set of nearly universal requirements principals he calls "cosmic truths."

OASIS announces final approval for Universal Business Language

Universal Business Language (UBL), the standard for XML business documents in B2B applications, was approved this week by OASIS, the Boston-based international standards consortium.

Java application opens secure access to sensitive court data

Providing law offices and citizens with specific data on court schedules and other judicial information without compromising security was the challenge Robert McDonald faces as chief architect of Court Services Online.

Worries about XPSP2 migration slow service pack deployment

Windows-based enterprises are taking their sweet time implementing the newly available Windows XP Service Pack 2 (XPSP2). The reason for this foot dragging? Expectations that XPSP2 migration will negatively impact business continuity in their organizations.

IBM Global Services unveils SOA Management Practice

SOAs have arrived, but building and managing them is still a challenge for most organizations. That's a challenge IBM Global Services is taking on with a newly created practice aimed at helping enterprises migrate to service-oriented architectures. Unveiled this past week, Big Blue's new SOA Management Practice will seek to help customers with Web services management capabilities as they scale to enterprise-wide SOAs.

Architected RAD gets an A in Gartner study

Architected Rapid Application Development (ARAD) is a new category of tools with a proven ROI edge, according to a recently completed user survey by Gartner, Inc.

Embedded systems seen evolving into 'Device Software'

One of the leading vendors of operating systems, development tools, and middleware for devices, Wind River Systems, jumps on the lifecycle bandwagon.

ADT at CTIA: IBM, Intel join in mobile security spec release

Some noteworthy enterprise-focused announcements found their way into the usual cacophony of consumer-oriented gizmo news that characterizes the annual CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment conference

Intel partners with cellular pioneer’s firm on WiMAX

Intel Corporation pushed its WiMAX strategy another step forward this week with the announcement of a partnership deal with Clearwire, Inc. a wireless broadband services company founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw.

Java Business Integration spec draft released, sparking controversy

After 18 months of “hard work,” the proposed Java Business Integration (JBI) specification was released for public comment on Wednesday, Sun Microsystems announced.

Security pioneer: New-age JAAS holds promise

Tony Nadalin, distinguished engineer and chief security architect for IBM, started working on Java security models with colleagues from Sun Microsystems in the late 1990s, and says that work is now paying off for Java developers.

Big Blue, Sharp to collaborate on 'smart card'

IBM is collaborating with Sharp Corporation in Japan to develop a high-capacity flash memory card equipped with IBM's Java Card Open Platform (JCOP) OS, the two companies disclosed last week. The 1-megabyte IC cards represent a big step up in storage capacity from conventional 16 to 32 KB cards, said Angus McIntyre, IBM’s product line manager for embedded Java products.

Alternative software licensing models gain traction

The perpetual software license is slipping as subscription and utility models gain market traction among both software makers and their customers, according to a new industry survey released last week.

The value of socializing

Programmers don’t have a reputation for being the most sociable types in an organization, but don’t tell that to Tremaine Smith, assistant director of the audit division for the State of Washington’s Department of Revenue. Smith recently completed a business intelligence (BI) project with a team made up of in-house programmers and consultants from HP Services in which socializing, he believes, was a key to success.

Fighting the Enemy Within

"Security is no longer an afterthought:" That's a phrase we hear a lot these days, but its significance isn't often fully appreciated. If security has ceased to be an issue that comes up only after an application has been built, then it must be getting baked in much earlier in the development process--or at least it should be. And that means – here's the significant part -- that more than ever before, the security onus is falling on the shoulders of developers.

The next step in Grid computing

Many of the large system vendors like to describe grid computing as a kind of Lego-style building block model for the data center that allows organizations to mix and match servers, storage, applications, and I/O. That’s an analogy that works for TopSpin Communications, says the company’s marketing VP, Stu Aaron. “Think of TopSpin as the flat green piece that you build your Lego cities on top of,” he says.

Akamai offers on-demand J2EE business applications

For businesses that want J2EE Web applications without going through the development lifecycle, Akamai Technologies this week announced the availability of on-demand Web applications.

IBM offers new integrated tools for J2EE development teams

As promised, a week after releasing a new version of WebSphere, IBM announced a new integrated toolset that draws heavily on its Rational technology.

Web Services: Companies move beyond tire-kicking

It's time to stop thinking of Web services as emerging technologies, say industry watchers at the Yankee Group.

Book club opens new chapter with conversion to Windows

There are definite pluses, including ROI savings, and productivity and performance gains, in moving legacy Cobol mainframe apps to Microsoft Windows servers, says Leo Theberge, CIO at a Canadian book club.