SOA Sandbox for Reuse

The SOA Sandbox for Reuse at developerWorks has just been updated to include Rational Asset Manager. I've been really impressed with the sandbox - it's a hosted environment where you can instantly access and play with the tools that make up IBM's SOA foundation. It loads very quickly and the performance is just as good as running the applications natively, except you don't have all the hassle of installing and configuring the tools yourself. The included cheat sheets guide you through sample SOA scenarios, but you can also just explore the environment on your own. Here's how you get to the RAM environment.

Go to the SOA Sandbox for reuse main page at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/downloads/soasandbox/reuse/. Once there, simply follow the prompts to start the online trial (you'll need an ibm.com ID to register). Once you've gone through the registration process, you'll be brought to the Trial Environment selection screen. If this is the first time you've worked with a hosted trial, you'll need to download the Citrix Metaframe presentation client (the link is on the page), then you can click on one of the available applications (below) - the RAM one is called "Governance of Reuse".

Once the application starts up (and it's very quick), it's just like using the native app. Follow the guidelines in the cheat sheet for a complete SOA scenario, or just explore for yourself. The cheat sheet is shown on the right in the image below.


So what are you waiting for? Go explore!

SOA Governance

There's a new article out this week from DevX, on SOA Governance, focusing on Rational Asset Manager and WebSphere Service Registry and Repository. From the abstract:

Your most valuable SOA assets are worthless if you and your team can't find, use, and manage them. Find out how IBM Rational Asset Manager and IBM WebSphere Service Registry and Repository's governance solution can help you maximize your SOA investment to meet your business needs.

You can find the rest of the article here.
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Murray Cantor on IT Governance

Network Computing India ran a two-page interview with Rational's Dr. Murray Cantor on the subject of IT governance. The Q&A captures Murray's opinions about the need for governance in the industry.

We've been focusing on governance a lot here on the Architecture Management team, but there's still lots of uncertainty about what is meant by IT Governance. Murray clears it up in the Q&A:

The first part is about looking at your IT organization and reasoning about the decision rights, authority so that you know that right people are making right decisions. Policies are a way of informing and constraining those decisions. They provide guidance around the decision process. The second part is about putting in place measurements and controls so that you know that the IT organization is delivering what it needs to deliver to be effective.

We're working on projects like Asset Manager to help with governance of IT assets, and you'll be seeing us add to the collaborative, analysis and accessibility aspects of the solutions over time. Right now, in fact, we're offering a rebate on Asset Manager and WebSphere Service Registry and Repository (WSRR) if you buy them together to help governance of your SOA assets.

Get up close and personal to Asset Manager

Rational Asset Manager is coming to a city near you.

You can now sign up to attend a developerWorks Live! briefing on Asset Reuse with RAM and Rational Software Architect. The first locations are:

• El Segundo, California on March 4th
• Jacksonville, Florida on March 12th
• New York city on March 19th.

So there's got to be a location within a short 1000 mile drive from you (assuming you're in the US).
We've got both coasts covered at least! Stay tuned for more locations to come.

So, what are we showing?

Well, asset reuse is an essential strategy for companies looking to create innovative solutions to solve complex software development problems. Searching for, identifying, updating, using, and deploying software assets can be a difficult challenge. An effective reuse strategy allows you to:

• Harvest existing artifacts and build and share assets to mitigate costs and productivity concerns for analysis, development, and testing.
• Coordinate and control assets and intellectual property, determining what is shared, versioned, and visible for others to use.
• Understand the relationships between and impact of assets, such as the relationship between development time assets and the relationship to infrastructure assets.
• Govern assets across communities -- for example, one community describing needs and another community realizing needs and submitting solutions to repository.
• Govern service development and publishing into a service registry.
• Track assets effectively across an organization.

The briefing provides a high level overview of RAM and RSA - tools that can help you address the components of a successful reuse strategy. Discussions and demos introduce key software asset management definitions, challenges and solutions, including strategies and tools that can be leveraged for a successful project.

Sign up now!

The buzz around Asset Management

I did say in the previous post, with it only being noon, I had so much accomplished, and than talked about one article. Yes, I did more than that!

Also, thought I'd mention, Grant Larsen, who is the Chief Architect for Rational Asset Manager, will be doing a webcast Keys to Implementing an Asset-based Development Strategy at http://www.adtmag.com/techlib/product.aspx?pid=82. Join him live on Sept 25!!