Study shows SOA worries systems integrators
618216
Although SOA efforts are still early-stage at most organizations, systems integrators who work for government agencies are concerned that SOA efforts might put them out of a job. So says the Input Executive Forum, a trade organization representing federal contractors and agencies. Instead of hiring systems integrators to add new capabilities into existing IT environments, "agencies with a SOA environment can just acquire the services they need," says Deniece Peterson, a senior analyst at Input whose study examined the impact of SOA on IT contractors.[ What is SOA? Watch the InfoClipz primer to learn more. ]Only a few federal agencies -- including the Defense Dept., NASA, Treasury Dept., SEC, and FBI -- have significant SOA efforts under way, Peterson notes. Elsewhere, SOA efforts are typically small test projects or still in the research and design phases, she says. That slow uptake means IT providers haven't yet seen much shift away from traditional integration efforts in federal project proposals. "But they can see it coming," Peterson says. "When that time comes, they'll need to offer SOA services."While IT contractors are beginning to worry about possible loss of systems integration work, federal agencies that have a SOA agenda have their own concerns, Peterson notes. Many of the SOA-enabling technologies being sold to them contain proprietary components that interfere with SOA's promise of standards-based modularity. "The agencies are looking for standards, so this is slowing them down," she says.The other concern is a lack of SOA-skilled IT talent within the federal agencies, many of whom are facing a brain drain across the board due to the high percentage of retirement-age employees. Ironically, this lack of inside talent may help IT contractors -- if they can fill the gap by providing SOA-savvy architects, developers, and project managers, Peterson says.Although Peterson's research focused on the implications of federal SOA efforts, she suspects a similar set of issues exists in corporate IT environments. There, too, is an ecosystem of systems integrators accustomed to a series of integration projects in large enterprises -- particularly in finance and telecom -- who are looking at SOA as a way to reduce the integration need.
729877
IBM&#39;s Global Services division has created a practice to help customers with Web services management tools scale to larger service-oriented architectures (SOA).
467389
The Motley Fool - The Software Bazaar is boisterous again, and the merchants have a new cry. It's SOA (rhymes with Boa) or, in full, service-oriented architecture. Vendors promise flexible, friendly software, and business agility. Is it the new big thing? And what does it mean for customers, and investors in enterprise software and services?
665379
In a series of face-to-face interviews in which dozens of government CIOs were promised anonymity, the ITAA has uncovered a number of lingering concerns about IT security, the organization reports.
703336
InfoWorld - IBM's global services organization is adding "health check" services to its repertoire of technical services for SOA deployments, looking to assist users dealing with issues resulting from poor planning or partnerships with inexperienced or so-called proprietary IT vendors.
650360
Symantec's primary strategy in the enterprise may currently revolve around the notion of IT risk management, but the company's latest research finds that efforts to refine corporate process unrelated to security technology have become just as popular with customers moving to limit their exposure.According to Symantec's annual survey of 405 businesses, the notion that technologies used to improve IT security serve as the most vital element of corporate risk management currently ranks below other priorities among customers. Respondents to the study rated IT availability management and work on specific regulatory compliance projects as comparable, and in some cases more important, to their ongoing risk mitigation efforts.In addition, fewer businesses are utilizing a strategy that approaches IT risk as a standalone skill set or initiative, according to the Symantec report.One year ago, customers participating in the study indicated that the adoption of security technologies represented the central tenet of their risk management plans. In the 2008 report, 78 percent replied that availability maintenance concerns are now as vital to their exposure mitigation efforts as the installation of security tools.Some 70 percent of respondents replied that security projects are still a critical part of their approach. However, 53 percent of the IT-related incidents experienced by surveyed companies were tied to other issues besides problems with systems defense."IT risk doesn't necessarily equate to security risk. That's a big shift and the key takeaway is that organizations are getting more mature around the portfolio of risks they have to manage," said Samir Kapuria, managing director of Advisory Services at Symantec. "In the past, people looked at one area as discreet, but now they're addressing the four pillars of compliance, security, risk, and performance availability as part of a balanced strategy."Increasing interdependence on IT systems shared between business partners has elevated availability and performance concerns above security issues -- and businesses are more worried about causing a bottleneck in their global supply chain then they are looking to thwart attacks, the expert contends."IT systems availability can have a downstream impact which has had this downward effect," Kapuria said.Spending on compliance-oriented projects also stands as a major piece of most companies' plans, with 68 percent of those people responding stating that their employers rate those efforts as crucial to their risk management strategies.Respondents indicated that high-level risk management projects have become less central to their IT planning, with companies favoring targeted initiatives that address individual problems or regulations.In terms of the participants' expectations to avoid and prevent IT breakdowns, 69 percent said they believe they will encounter at least one minor incident per month, with 63 percent predicting a major IT failure at least once a year.Some 26 percent indicated they expect a failed regulatory compliance incident at least once annually, and 25 percent said that they will experience a data loss event every 12 months."This speaks volumes to the confidence that people have about their overall IT risk posture," said Kapuria. "Part of the problem is that people only do assessments on a bi-annual basis, or they might inventory their assets sporadically; that gap is what often leads to exposure in availability, security, compliance, or performance." All the individual projects involved need to be managed on an ongoing basis, he said.However, the process remains a moving target. Increased adoption of mobile devices and other distributed enterprise trends continue to boost data and compliance risks, while business practices -- including fast-paced mergers and acquisitions -- introduce greater complexity, Kapuria said.More than technological efforts, the Symantec report contends that companies may see faster returns in improving their risk status through greater investment in employee risk education and training.Only 43 percent of respondents rated their training and awareness programs as more than 75 percent effective, showing that companies are well aware of their current shortcomings, Kapuria said. The report shows a decrease of over 50 percent in companies' confidence about their training programs, compared to the year ago survey."The area where most people need to focus on is classifying their data, what it's used for, and what its sensitivity may be," said Kapuria. "Rather than just throwing technology at their problems, companies need to assess, and then apply the appropriate availability, security, and compliance requirements."
539256
Users are finding the biggest obstacle to service-oriented architecture is breaking down outdated development paradigms and educating  people on the new methodology.
530877
European security experts working on plans for a system to notify small and midsize businesses of IT security threats.
103175
As organizations consolidate their systems and prepare for new versions of key software such as Windows Server 2008, major server-related projects are getting put on the front burner.
263726
Users on hand for this week's Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference say a move to SOA can yield substantial rewards -- after a company has first navigated the problems such a move can uncover.
47956
InfoWorld - If you curse your &quot;tier-one&quot; IT management solution as too cumbersome, too complex, and too expensive, you&#39;re not alone. In arecent Gartner study that declares the &quot;Big Four&quot; -- BMC, CA, HP, and IBM -- increasingly vulnerable to SaaS (software as a service) and open source alternatives, surveyed users gave their vendors mostly C&#39;s and D&#39;s, and a good number of incompletes.
601984
Vulnerabilities in healthcare software often go unreported.
320458
Web servers may be vulnerable to attack, security company warns.
517635
It may be too early to tell, but some Symantec partners have already begun to express concern.
632565
As malware threats and regulatory compliance demands continue to grow more complex, IT will become increasingly dependent on SaaS (software as a service) offerings that let them respond to problems faster while also saving money, according to top executives at the world's largest anti-malware vendors.In addition to continued adoption of managed security services delivered on- and off-site by professional consultants, IT customers will be able to resolve some of the problems they have with existing IT systems defense and compliance automation tools by shifting away from on-premise technologies in favor of adopting more hosted applications, vendor executives contend.While security technologies such as end-point protection suites and IDS (intrusion detection systems) will likely always require the use of software agents that reside on customers' devices and network infrastructure, vendor executives claim that a range of technologies, including exploit-prevention tools and compliance-monitoring filters, will gradually move to the SaaS model.As a result, providers such as McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro, among others, are already ramping up their SaaS portfolios to adapt to the shift."We believe that [SaaS] is the wave of future, and we already deal with the issue of updating tens of millions of machines remotely multiple times per day in multiple geographies. It's one of most complex things to do in all of technology, and one of the most impressive assets that I think we have," said David DeWalt, CEO of McAfee."IT budgets are not growing, but the threats and regulatory demands are, and customers are finding themselves thin on resources. SaaS will be a great way for businesses to save on infrastructure and maintenance costs while improving protection," said Jeff Hausman, Symantec's senior director of product management. "There's no question that the hosted model is growing dramatically."McAfee expects a SaaS transition over time Building on the infrastructure that vendors such as McAfee have already established to distribute anti-malware signatures and other product updates to their customers, the companies will add new SaaS offerings incrementally as customers warm up to the ideal.The security software providers themselves must also figure out the appropriate mix of on- and off-site tools, as well as refine pricing policies for the services over the next few years, CEO DeWalt said.However, DeWalt recognized that the process of designing and delivering SaaS products -- and selling customers on their benefits -- won't be achieved overnight. "It's a very complicated technology project, sometimes not even related to development of our own technology, but based on the IT infrastructure needed to deliver SaaS as effectively," he said. "We've learned a lot through our experiences building [anti-malware] products for the consumer and small-business markets, and we'll use those lessons to move into the SaaS business over time."As part of its move into SaaS, McAfee announced the acquisition of ScanAlert, a provider of hosted e-commerce Web site security services, for $51 million in October 2007. The company will consider additional deals in the area if there are targets that can aid in its development of the business, DeWalt said.Trend Micro, others see Intelligence in the cloud Along with e-mail filtering services -- one breed of security SaaS application that has already proven a hit with customers of companies such as Postini, which Google acquired for $625 million in July 2007 -- vendor executives contend that hosted tools used to provide end-point and network security management services will be among the first to find favor with IT and end-users.Trend Micro CEO Eva Chen said a growing number of the firm's small-business customers are already using its Remote Manager hosted tools to maintain configuration of their security programs and prevent their end-point systems from being altered by malware programs such as rootkits."We began quietly moving forward in this direction several years ago, but I believe 2008 will be a big year for SaaS development, not only because of vendor initiatives, but because of the need to deal with new threats among customers," Chen said."We think that there will be a need to move anti-threat knowledge from the customer into the cloud," Chen said. "Instead of having them download a virus pattern file, we will filter things and compare them to intelligence in the cloud, and then go to the end-user and update them without having to download the larger files used today."Keeping the channel involved Established SaaS applications in other markets, such as Salesforce.com's hosted sales-force automation tools, have traditionally bypassed resellers and other channel players and instead been provided directly to customers by vendors themselves. That may not be the case for SaaS-delivered anti-malware, Chen said.The reason? Even though SaaS tools are meant to alleviate many of the management concerns related to traditional on-premise products by handing the responsibilities back to the vendors, channel partners will be important in providing any services necessary to help users transition to the delivery model, or to customize the applications to individual business environments and provide any needed support services, Chen said.Symantec, which has pledged to turn as many of its products into SaaS offerings as it can do profitably, has also promised to keep its resellers in the loop as its brings new hosted services to market. Most customers adopting SaaS services will still consume traditional security products, leading the company to pursue a hybrid strategy that mixes the two disciplines, said product director Hausman."We have the infrastructure to provide the service, but resellers will still maintain a lot of the relationships," Hausman said. "We're the brand behind delivery to the customer, but the partner is still the same name and face that customers have grown comfortable dealing with over time."Diverse opportunities Symantec's maiden foray into SaaS is its Protection Network online secure backup service aimed initially at smaller customers, hundreds of which are already piloting the offering, according to Hausman. But Symantec is preparing several other hosted products for release.E-mail security is one area where Symantec sees SaaS opportunities, built on the success of acquired companies such as Postini. Other services that the company is pursuing might come as a surprise, including its bet that elements of DLP (data leakage prevention) and compliance monitoring can be moved to the SaaS delivery model.Vontu, the DLP gateway specialist that Symantec purchased in November 2007 for $350 million, didn't have a SaaS offering under development, but Hausman believes that under Symantec's wing, the unit can create new capabilities by tying some of the on-premise capabilities of its technology with in-the-cloud services for message filtering and archiving.Other opportunities for SaaS will emerge around anti-virus protection, security policy management, remote systems management and IT continuity protection, he said.
205808
Instead of piecemeal, project-by-project approaches, companies must understand that SOA needs to be a companywide design philosophy.
13352
While security experts applaud Microsoft&#39;s recently released Service Pack 2, some companies that distribute their software over the Web are watching the product&#39;s introduction with dread and suspicion.