| Investing in SOA Innovation ( Fusion of SOA with Complementary Technologies ) |
Event Driven, High Performance Process Services - Increasingly, service architectures are moving into computing environments that
require near real-time performance (e.g.: Navy ships, hand-held devices, etc). Within these environments, services are often event-driven
and positioned to perform demanding, time-sensitive tasks (e.g.: process multiple high volume data streams and derive meaningful tactical,
actionable information from raw data). Vektrel has begun investing in innovation in the area of event-driven, high performance service
engineering.
Portable Process Services - With the advent of BPEL 2, the possibility of achieving true portability with process service engineering is
slowly coming into focus. Yet, many challenges exist and true portability within sophisticated, integration intensive process services
remains elusive. Vektrel continues to invest in architectural patterns that move true BPM container portability for process services closer to
reality.
require near real-time performance (e.g.: Navy ships, hand-held devices, etc). Within these environments, services are often event-driven
and positioned to perform demanding, time-sensitive tasks (e.g.: process multiple high volume data streams and derive meaningful tactical,
actionable information from raw data). Vektrel has begun investing in innovation in the area of event-driven, high performance service
engineering.
Portable Process Services - With the advent of BPEL 2, the possibility of achieving true portability with process service engineering is
slowly coming into focus. Yet, many challenges exist and true portability within sophisticated, integration intensive process services
remains elusive. Vektrel continues to invest in architectural patterns that move true BPM container portability for process services closer to
reality.
Today, we are solving some of the most technically challenging aspects of SOA solution engineering through design innovations that are
essentially a fusion of SOA and virtualization engineering concepts and design patterns. This fusion of complementary technologies, and
the architectural innovations it enables, are potentially of great value to any SOA foundations supporting mission critical functionality (either
commercial or military). Some of the most powerful innovations emerging from this fusion are in the areas of SOA survivability,
performance, operational agility and security engineering (key issues for any mission critical SOA solution).
SOA Survivability Engineering - Typically, discussions on SOA survivability engineering revolve around traditional techniques for
disaster recovery (DR). However, for mission critical SOA foundations, these traditional techniques require time and manual processes
and procedures. Clearly, for any SOA solution supporting critical functionality, the rapid and automated recovery of SOA foundations after
damage is a tactical imperative.
SOA Survivability Engineering allows mission critical SOA foundations to sustain extensive damage and completely rebuild from that
damage automatically (without human intervention) in a manner that preserves SOA architectural integrity (e.g.: preserves the security,
operational, performance and network engineering integrity of the SOA infrastructure). Most importantly, these capabilities would
potentially allow mission critical SOA foundations to be rebuilt ... within seconds of being damaged.
It's important to note that recovery includes much more than simple application server cluster fail-over. When a datacenter is damaged,
critical application server clusters may be completely destroyed. Alternatively, their surviving fail-over servers might be insufficient to
manage the service throughput and loading during a critical tactical situation. With SOA Survivability Engineering, recovery is
comprehensive. SOA clusters are recreated and / or scaled as necessary. Missing functionality is rebuilt and brought online. Computing
resources are balanced and allocated at both the virtualization and the SOA service levels in real-time based on immediate critical loading
needs and behaviors. Events and attributes are evaluated at the enterprise level to make service instance scaling and resource allocation
decisions.
In short, the SOA fabric is recreated, in a manner that preserves its architectural integrity, and begins to adapt to the immediate needs and
stresses within the mission critical SOA foundation.
SOA Security, Performance, Network and Operational Engineering - In addition to providing automated survivability capabilities to a
SOA fabric, the fusion of SOA and Virtualization technologies allows Vektrel architects to capture much of the SOA solution architecture
within the declarative definition (e.g.: XML configuration) of the virtualization infrastructure. This fusion of SOA and Virtualization
infrastructure yields enormous benefits in terms of SOA performance, SOA security and SOA operational efficiency and agility.
essentially a fusion of SOA and virtualization engineering concepts and design patterns. This fusion of complementary technologies, and
the architectural innovations it enables, are potentially of great value to any SOA foundations supporting mission critical functionality (either
commercial or military). Some of the most powerful innovations emerging from this fusion are in the areas of SOA survivability,
performance, operational agility and security engineering (key issues for any mission critical SOA solution).
SOA Survivability Engineering - Typically, discussions on SOA survivability engineering revolve around traditional techniques for
disaster recovery (DR). However, for mission critical SOA foundations, these traditional techniques require time and manual processes
and procedures. Clearly, for any SOA solution supporting critical functionality, the rapid and automated recovery of SOA foundations after
damage is a tactical imperative.
SOA Survivability Engineering allows mission critical SOA foundations to sustain extensive damage and completely rebuild from that
damage automatically (without human intervention) in a manner that preserves SOA architectural integrity (e.g.: preserves the security,
operational, performance and network engineering integrity of the SOA infrastructure). Most importantly, these capabilities would
potentially allow mission critical SOA foundations to be rebuilt ... within seconds of being damaged.
It's important to note that recovery includes much more than simple application server cluster fail-over. When a datacenter is damaged,
critical application server clusters may be completely destroyed. Alternatively, their surviving fail-over servers might be insufficient to
manage the service throughput and loading during a critical tactical situation. With SOA Survivability Engineering, recovery is
comprehensive. SOA clusters are recreated and / or scaled as necessary. Missing functionality is rebuilt and brought online. Computing
resources are balanced and allocated at both the virtualization and the SOA service levels in real-time based on immediate critical loading
needs and behaviors. Events and attributes are evaluated at the enterprise level to make service instance scaling and resource allocation
decisions.
In short, the SOA fabric is recreated, in a manner that preserves its architectural integrity, and begins to adapt to the immediate needs and
stresses within the mission critical SOA foundation.
SOA Security, Performance, Network and Operational Engineering - In addition to providing automated survivability capabilities to a
SOA fabric, the fusion of SOA and Virtualization technologies allows Vektrel architects to capture much of the SOA solution architecture
within the declarative definition (e.g.: XML configuration) of the virtualization infrastructure. This fusion of SOA and Virtualization
infrastructure yields enormous benefits in terms of SOA performance, SOA security and SOA operational efficiency and agility.
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The discussion that follows elaborates on each of these benefits. Collectively, they yield a service based architecture supporting services
and composite applications whose functionality and behavior can be defined, redefined and extended declaratively through changes to
knowledge base content and rules engine configuration (rather than through code changes). The result is a service based architecture
capable of extending existing service / application behavior, rolling out entirely new functionality and "learning" from data patterns without
expensive time consuming code changes.
Adaptive, Knowledge Driven Presentation Services and Frameworks - Within a SOA / Semantic architecture, presentation services
(e.g.: JSR-168/268, WSRP, RIA / AJAX support services) could have their user interaction behavior driven from knowledge base entries
and rules engine configuration (rather than hard coding). This could yield highly adaptive services that could dramatically change the way
information is presented to users, and the way users interact with that information, by simply adjusting / expanding the content of a
Presentation Knowledge Base and supporting presentation rules (e.g.: no code changes to the presentation layer). Additionally, the entire
presentation layer (e.g.: Portal framework) could be extended to offer adaptive presentation capabilities.
Adaptive, Knowledge Driven Process Services - Within a SOA / Semantic architecture, process automation services would no longer
capture the majority of business process logic as BPM process definitions. Instead, they would capture adaptive interactions with a
knowledge base and rules engine whose collective content would determine most of the functionality and behavior of the process service.
Process service behavior could be re-factored or extended through modifications and expansion of knowledge base contents and process
rules.
"Subject Specific" Service Templates - SOA / Semantic architectures open the door for the possibility of "Subject Specific" service
templates. These would be SOA services that sequence through a series of knowledge base interactions and act upon the result of those
interactions based on process rules. Such a service template would not hard code specific service functionality in any traditional sense.
Instead, it would simply code a sequence of interactions with an adaptive "subject specific" knowledge base (e.g.: a knowledge base
dedicated to a specific subject matter like naval tactical information patterns, or financial knowledge patterns) and then take actions on the
results of that interaction based on adaptive process rules. Such a service template could be a common code foundation for several
instances of concrete services whose behavior would be differentiated mostly (if not completely) by their declarative process rules and the
nature of their knowledge base interactions.
Adaptive Composite Applications - Composite Applications "compose" their functionality through successive calls to supporting
services. Within a SOA / Semantic architecture, those composing services are "adaptive" (e.g.: adaptive behavior and functionality based
on knowledge base content and rules). This provides the foundation for "Adaptive Composite Applications" whose functionality and
behavior can be re-factored and extended by adjusting the declarative information that governs the functionality and behavior of its
composite services.
Extensible ("learning") Services - SOA / Semantic architectures provide the foundation for services (and composite applications) that
can "learn" from information gathered elsewhere. For example, if a US Naval task force records radar and communications patterns that
often precede hostile actions from a potential adversary, these patterns can be captured as entries in a tactical knowledge base. These
knowledge base entries can then be rapidly disseminated to the entire fleet to ensure tactical awareness within shipboard tactical services,
applications and displays.
Real-Time, Intelligent Evaluation of Data Streams - SOA / Semantic architectures would provide the technical foundation to create
event driven background services that constantly monitored incoming data steams (e.g.: E2C Hawkeye, satellite, GlobalHawk, AWACS,
etc) for information patterns indicating potentially urgent or hostile tactical situations. These background services could then issue alerts to
SOA / Semantic presentation services that would then adapt presentation displays to alert command personnel of an emerging and
evolving threat. Such a capability would off-load command and tactical personnel from the burden of sifting through volumes of information
during stressful tactical situations.
Closing Thoughts - The fusion of SOA with Semantic Technologies yields powerful new capabilities whose benefits span both the
commercial and military sectors. Semantic Technologies are currently at a maturity level comparable to where SOA was about three years
ago (i.e.: rapidly emerging and evolving). Vektrel continues to invest in building expertise, innovation, knowledge and capability with this
fusion of technologies to ensure our engineering teams are positioned to deliver increasing value to our clients.
and composite applications whose functionality and behavior can be defined, redefined and extended declaratively through changes to
knowledge base content and rules engine configuration (rather than through code changes). The result is a service based architecture
capable of extending existing service / application behavior, rolling out entirely new functionality and "learning" from data patterns without
expensive time consuming code changes.
Adaptive, Knowledge Driven Presentation Services and Frameworks - Within a SOA / Semantic architecture, presentation services
(e.g.: JSR-168/268, WSRP, RIA / AJAX support services) could have their user interaction behavior driven from knowledge base entries
and rules engine configuration (rather than hard coding). This could yield highly adaptive services that could dramatically change the way
information is presented to users, and the way users interact with that information, by simply adjusting / expanding the content of a
Presentation Knowledge Base and supporting presentation rules (e.g.: no code changes to the presentation layer). Additionally, the entire
presentation layer (e.g.: Portal framework) could be extended to offer adaptive presentation capabilities.
Adaptive, Knowledge Driven Process Services - Within a SOA / Semantic architecture, process automation services would no longer
capture the majority of business process logic as BPM process definitions. Instead, they would capture adaptive interactions with a
knowledge base and rules engine whose collective content would determine most of the functionality and behavior of the process service.
Process service behavior could be re-factored or extended through modifications and expansion of knowledge base contents and process
rules.
"Subject Specific" Service Templates - SOA / Semantic architectures open the door for the possibility of "Subject Specific" service
templates. These would be SOA services that sequence through a series of knowledge base interactions and act upon the result of those
interactions based on process rules. Such a service template would not hard code specific service functionality in any traditional sense.
Instead, it would simply code a sequence of interactions with an adaptive "subject specific" knowledge base (e.g.: a knowledge base
dedicated to a specific subject matter like naval tactical information patterns, or financial knowledge patterns) and then take actions on the
results of that interaction based on adaptive process rules. Such a service template could be a common code foundation for several
instances of concrete services whose behavior would be differentiated mostly (if not completely) by their declarative process rules and the
nature of their knowledge base interactions.
Adaptive Composite Applications - Composite Applications "compose" their functionality through successive calls to supporting
services. Within a SOA / Semantic architecture, those composing services are "adaptive" (e.g.: adaptive behavior and functionality based
on knowledge base content and rules). This provides the foundation for "Adaptive Composite Applications" whose functionality and
behavior can be re-factored and extended by adjusting the declarative information that governs the functionality and behavior of its
composite services.
Extensible ("learning") Services - SOA / Semantic architectures provide the foundation for services (and composite applications) that
can "learn" from information gathered elsewhere. For example, if a US Naval task force records radar and communications patterns that
often precede hostile actions from a potential adversary, these patterns can be captured as entries in a tactical knowledge base. These
knowledge base entries can then be rapidly disseminated to the entire fleet to ensure tactical awareness within shipboard tactical services,
applications and displays.
Real-Time, Intelligent Evaluation of Data Streams - SOA / Semantic architectures would provide the technical foundation to create
event driven background services that constantly monitored incoming data steams (e.g.: E2C Hawkeye, satellite, GlobalHawk, AWACS,
etc) for information patterns indicating potentially urgent or hostile tactical situations. These background services could then issue alerts to
SOA / Semantic presentation services that would then adapt presentation displays to alert command personnel of an emerging and
evolving threat. Such a capability would off-load command and tactical personnel from the burden of sifting through volumes of information
during stressful tactical situations.
Closing Thoughts - The fusion of SOA with Semantic Technologies yields powerful new capabilities whose benefits span both the
commercial and military sectors. Semantic Technologies are currently at a maturity level comparable to where SOA was about three years
ago (i.e.: rapidly emerging and evolving). Vektrel continues to invest in building expertise, innovation, knowledge and capability with this
fusion of technologies to ensure our engineering teams are positioned to deliver increasing value to our clients.
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Security Engineering - WSRP portlets are designed to be modular user presentation / interaction windows that can be dropped into any
page of a user interface. This proliferation of SOA services supporting WSRP portlets and AJAX related presentation has increasingly
raised security issues relative to using these powerful capabilities. User interface designers need to be able to drop WSRP portlets into
pages without being concerned about authentication and authorization issues relative to the functionality those portlets represent. Similarly,
they need to be able to leverage AJAX XML data services without dealing with the complexities of standards based, high-security service
interaction. Vektrel is evolving architectural patterns that effectively address presentation service security concerns in a manner that
abstracts user interface designers from complexities and evolutionary instabilities.
Identity "Bridging" and Propagation - Security for WSRP Portlets and AJAX data services must operate consistently when operating
behind Identity and Authorization Management (IAM) solutions or across Federated Identity boundaries. The "tokenization" of user
identities by IAM solutions, and the "bridging" and identity mapping of identities by Federated Identity solutions, raises a myriad of
technology issues related to identity propagation and mapping as well as SOA single sign-on engineering. Vektrel is evolving architectural
innovations in presentation service integration and interaction with IAM and Federated Identity frameworks designed to ensure clean
integration of services with local and federated single sign-on (SSO) solutions.
Service-based Content / Document / Media Delivery (ECM Integration) - There are many facets of presentation service design that
must address integration with, and support of, Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions. These facets include ensuring services
are engineered to manage the data volumes necessary to source rich media through WSRP or AJAX service interfaces. They also include
ensuring presentation services accommodate ECM security integration and issues like content forward staging and edge deployment.
Vektrel is working to evolve presentation service engineering in a manner that ensures optimal, secure, high-performance integration with
enterprise content / media sources.
SOA and Enterprise Portal Integration - Enterprise Portal frameworks have evolved to be natural consumers of SOA services. In
addition to consuming WSRP portlets and AJAX XML services, portals are also natural hosts for enterprise composite applications.
Deriving maximum return on both Portal and SOA investments requires ensuring that Portal applications and presentation layers can work
with a Service Interaction Model and supporting framework that ensure portal applications can easily and securely interact with standards
based services efficiently in a manner that abstracts them from complexity and evolutionary instabilities. Vektrel is investing in evolving
innovative solutions for integrating SOA solution architectures with Enterprise Portal frameworks (both COTS and Open Source).
WSRP / RIA / AJAX Services Engineering - Vektrel incorporates lessons learned from its engineering community into innovations in
WSRP Portlet service and AJAX XML service engineering. Vektrel's presentation service engineering patterns span service functionality
engineering as well as service integration with presentation platforms and composite applications.
"Semantic" Presentation Services - Explore the following link to learn about how Vektrel is investing in the fusion of SOA and Semantic
Technologies and the how these investments impact innovation in presentation service engineering.
page of a user interface. This proliferation of SOA services supporting WSRP portlets and AJAX related presentation has increasingly
raised security issues relative to using these powerful capabilities. User interface designers need to be able to drop WSRP portlets into
pages without being concerned about authentication and authorization issues relative to the functionality those portlets represent. Similarly,
they need to be able to leverage AJAX XML data services without dealing with the complexities of standards based, high-security service
interaction. Vektrel is evolving architectural patterns that effectively address presentation service security concerns in a manner that
abstracts user interface designers from complexities and evolutionary instabilities.
Identity "Bridging" and Propagation - Security for WSRP Portlets and AJAX data services must operate consistently when operating
behind Identity and Authorization Management (IAM) solutions or across Federated Identity boundaries. The "tokenization" of user
identities by IAM solutions, and the "bridging" and identity mapping of identities by Federated Identity solutions, raises a myriad of
technology issues related to identity propagation and mapping as well as SOA single sign-on engineering. Vektrel is evolving architectural
innovations in presentation service integration and interaction with IAM and Federated Identity frameworks designed to ensure clean
integration of services with local and federated single sign-on (SSO) solutions.
Service-based Content / Document / Media Delivery (ECM Integration) - There are many facets of presentation service design that
must address integration with, and support of, Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions. These facets include ensuring services
are engineered to manage the data volumes necessary to source rich media through WSRP or AJAX service interfaces. They also include
ensuring presentation services accommodate ECM security integration and issues like content forward staging and edge deployment.
Vektrel is working to evolve presentation service engineering in a manner that ensures optimal, secure, high-performance integration with
enterprise content / media sources.
SOA and Enterprise Portal Integration - Enterprise Portal frameworks have evolved to be natural consumers of SOA services. In
addition to consuming WSRP portlets and AJAX XML services, portals are also natural hosts for enterprise composite applications.
Deriving maximum return on both Portal and SOA investments requires ensuring that Portal applications and presentation layers can work
with a Service Interaction Model and supporting framework that ensure portal applications can easily and securely interact with standards
based services efficiently in a manner that abstracts them from complexity and evolutionary instabilities. Vektrel is investing in evolving
innovative solutions for integrating SOA solution architectures with Enterprise Portal frameworks (both COTS and Open Source).
WSRP / RIA / AJAX Services Engineering - Vektrel incorporates lessons learned from its engineering community into innovations in
WSRP Portlet service and AJAX XML service engineering. Vektrel's presentation service engineering patterns span service functionality
engineering as well as service integration with presentation platforms and composite applications.
"Semantic" Presentation Services - Explore the following link to learn about how Vektrel is investing in the fusion of SOA and Semantic
Technologies and the how these investments impact innovation in presentation service engineering.
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