Welcome to the blog where IBMers exchange viewpoints, share their perspectives to provide more insight around service oriented architecture solutions, and delve into a range of SOA-related subjects. We want you to speak out on SOA through comments in the blog -- from where your organization stands on SOA adoption, to your challenges and experiences -- to share with the larger community the impact of SOA on your marketplace. Sandy Carter is IBM's Vice President, SOA & WebSphere Marketing, Strategy and Channels. Discover the entry points to SOA and how companies worldwide are making SOA pay right away.

More information on Webify! Some of the frequently asked questions!

General Q&A

1. What are you announcing today?
A. IBM is acquiring Webify Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of industry-specific SOA software and services. Webify is a privately-held company, formed in 2002. The company is headquartered in Austin, TX, with a development lab in Mumbai, India. Webify has approximately 120 employees.

2. When did IBM close this deal?
A. This deal closed on August 1, 2006.

3. What was the purchase price?
A. We are not disclosing the purchase price.

4. Why did IBM acquire Webify?
A. IBM has acquired Webify for its market leading industry-focused SOA software and services. Webify can accelerate the delivery of SOA composite business applications based on pre-built, customizable SOA assets, semantic models and policies. IBM Software Group and IBM Global Services will use Webify’s capabilities to enable clients to more quickly and flexibly create SOA applications that can be composed primarily from existing assets. Webify complements and extends IBM’s SOA software portfolio, including WebSphere Integration Developer, WebSphere Process Server, and the WebSphere Service Registry and Repository. Webify has received significant industry recognition, most recently receiving two prestigious awards from ACORD, the Global Standards Association for the Insurance Industry.

5. What are the customer requirements that drove this acquisition?
A. Clients want the ability to reuse existing assets in flexible SOA applications that can be built and changed quickly. Clients also require SOA applications that are focused on their specific industries. SOA is about reuse, and Webify takes reuse to the next level by putting it in an industry-specific context. Applications built using SOA principles and Webify technology can be assembled, deployed and changed with significantly less time and resources than traditional applications. Customers have asked us to provide the linkage from SOA to their specific industries, and the acquisition of Webify is the continuation of a significant commitment by IBM in that direction.

6. How does this acquisition allow IBM Software and Services to jointly serve clients?
A. This is a unique acquisition for IBM – not just software, not just services, but both. Webify allows IBM to serve clients better by pooling the SOA-related efforts of several groups - Software Group, Global Business Services, Global Technology Services, and the Global Business Solution Center.

IBM Software Group will gain the Webify middleware technology, which extends IBM’s existing SOA Foundation and complements IBM’s SOA Lifecycle and Industry Solutions. IBM Global Services will gain Webify’s existing portfolio of SOA composite business services, as well as its methodology for creating new composite business services. Within IGS, Global Business Services (GBS) intends to provide service engagements based on existing Webify industry content and newly developed industry content. IBM’s recently announced Global Business Solution Center (GBSC) intends to create new composite business services. Global Technology Services (GTS) plans to host and provision existing and newly developed composite business services.

7. What industries are currently covered by Webify?
A. Most of Webify’s current customers are in the Insurance and Healthcare industries. Development is currently underway for SOA composite business services in Banking, Telecom, and Public Sector. IBM plans to extend this development across a wide variety of industries. The Global Business Solution Center in India will have the lead role in the development of new SOA composite business services.

8. What is the Global Business Solution Center?
A. The Global Business Solution Center in India, which was announced in March 2006, has the primary role within IBM for developing new SOA solution assets, such as the composite business services that are enabled by Webify middleware.

9. What do Webify products do?
A. Webify provides middleware tools and runtimes for assembling and deploying industry-specific SOA composite applications. The software includes a wide variety of industry-specific content, including the ability to perform semantic mediation. This semantic mediation capability can significantly speed up the process of providing solutions for industry standards such as ACORD, HIPAA, SWIFT, IAA, HL7, XBRL, FIXML and eTOM, to name just a few. Webify’s industry content also includes business process models, product catalogs (insurance industry products, for example), industry message sets, pre-built Web services assertions, interfaces to third party industry services, and pre-built interoperability with the IBM adaptor portfolio.

10. Why did IBM buy Webify instead of one of its competitors?
A. Webify is recognized as having the industry-leading SOA software and services focused on vertical markets.

11. How does the Webify technology extend the IBM SOA development and runtime capabilities?
A. Webify extends and complements IBM’s existing SOA Foundation by adding an industry-specific layer that supports semantic mediation. The semantic and industry standards supported by Webify are those that are important to our clients in those industries. Current industry support is for Insurance and Healthcare, with Banking, Telecom and Public Sector in development. Support will be broadened to cover numerous additional industries. Current semantic and industry standards that are supported include ACORD, HIPAA, SWIFT, WS-I, IAA, HL7, XBRL, FIXML and eTOM.

Semantic mediation increases the industry awareness and focus of SOA composite applications. Webify allows for the concept of business context to be dynamically applied to SOA services. This creates a new pattern of business-aware SOA services that focus on line of business execution, rather than technology limitations. This technology can allow development teams to more accurately and efficiently deliver SOA development in alignment with a line of business vision. The Webify runtime extends IBM’s middleware with semantic awareness and the dynamic binding of services, which can allow for a more efficient use of services and a reduction in the quantity of services required.

12. What are IBM’s plans for the products acquired with Webify?
A. IBM plans to invest in, support, market and sell the Webify middleware portfolio under the WebSphere brand name. The Webify products continue to be sold as-is and without disruption today. In the coming weeks, IBM will announce the rebranded, renamed, and repackaged versions of the Webify products.

IBM is also acquiring from Webify a set of SOA composite business services for specific business areas, such as Claims Lifecycle in the Insurance industry. These composite business services will be used by IBM Global Services to help speed the delivery of mission-critical industry applications to clients.

13. Does IBM intend to further develop the Webify products? What is the roadmap plan for these products?
A. Yes. IBM recognizes that industry-focused applications are key to the future of SOA. IBM will further develop and integrate these products, based on the needs of the market.

14. How does IBM intend to price these products?
A. Initial pricing will be based on the existing Webify pricing model. Further pricing decisions will be announced as the platform is rebranded. More information and announcements on the topic is expected to be available in late 2006 and 2007.

15. How will the Webify portfolio be branded?
A. The Webify middleware will be branded as IBM WebSphere. IBM Global Business Services will use an additional set of assets, Webify’s SOA composite business services, as part of their engagements and the assets that they provide to their clients. Additional information will be made available in the coming weeks. IBM Global Technology Services will provide hosting and provisioning for Webify composite business services.

16. What challenges do you see in integrating Webify with IBM?
A. We see no significant problems or challenges with this integration. Webify has been built on and optimized for IBM technology.

Webify Acquisition for SOA Industry Composite Business Services!

Today is a very exciting day as we announced our acquisition of Webify. To me, this announcement has a few key elements.

1) We acquired Webify for its market leading industry-focused SOA software, industry content, industry accelerators and services.
2) Webify products accelerate the delivery of SOA composite business applications based on pre-built, customizable SOA assets, semantic models and dynamic run-time.
3) We will use Webify products to enable customers to more quickly and flexibly create SOA applications that can be composed primarily from existing assets.
4) Webify complements and extends IBM’s SOA software portfolio, focusing on WebSphere Process Server, and WebSphere Service Registry and Repository.

The number of press stories is multiplying!!! Over 35 stories to date.

Early press has been very favorable. At this early hour, articles have been written in already in the Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, CNET news, varBusiness and many other publications around the world.

I'd love to know your thoughts on this acquisition.....here is where you can learn more! Click here to learn more!!!

Snokeling for the first time with a 5 year old!

Hey! I just arrived back from St Thomas and had a wonderful time! I took my daughter to Cokki Beach and Trunk Bay for some awesome snorkeling!!!
It was her first time and the excitement in seeing those fish was amazing! She of course laughed and leaked in a lot of water. Too funny but the energy and amazement made me realize there is more to life than SOA!!

Thanks for the great response on the SOA for dummies book! Keep the emails and requests coming in!

More exciting news on SOA later this week!

Here's to vacations, sand, and turquoise waters!

Cheers!

SOA driving Business Results!

Did you see the impact SOA is having on the market and the value delivered to our customers?

Read here!

SOA Drives Value

Order for FREE the SOA for Dummies book! Special Edition for IBM!

Now I am getting so many notes I want to provide you the website where you guys can go directly to order your very own SOA for Dummies Book! Happy Reading!

SOA for Dummies

SOA for Dummies Free Offer

Many thanks for the notes and pings on our SOA for Dummies -- the IBM edition! If you want a copy, please send me your address in a note to scarter@us.ibm.com!!

Thanks for the great response!!!

SOA for Dummies!

I love the "for dummies" series. You can learn about anything in a "for dummies" book! Since I travel around the world with the SOA Executive Summits, I still hear from many customers that they need a very simple way to explain SOA.

Because of these requests, when Carol Barodi (yes, the author of Internet for Dummies) approached us on sponsoring a book on SOA for dummies we jumped at it. She partnered with Judith Hurwitz, both well respected authors. and they have written “SOA for Dummies”, a special IBM Edition. SOA for Dummies IBM Edition covers what SOA is, why it matters, how it can impact businesses, how to get started with SOA, and what one IBM customer has done with SOA.

You can request a FREE copy of SOA for Dummies – IBM Edition by responding to my blog or by emailing me at scarter@us.ibm.com!

You'll also want to check out the latest SOA enablement resources including a SOA Best Practices: Real World Lessons Learned webcast scheduled for August 10. You will hear European IT industry authorities Macehiter Ward-Dutton and Freeform Dynamics discuss in detail the findings from their collaborative SOA analysis: SOA—Lessons from the Front Line. Register today for this informative webcast on ibm.com/soa!!!

SOA Contest in China!!

China is a fabulous place -- actually one of my favorite places to visit due to the energy and excitement in the Chinese people. I would recommend several very key spots like Xian where the terra cotta soldiers are -- check it out this one !!

Because of the explosive growth in China, we designed a contest for China university students. We asked them to build an SOA application using a virtual customer that is facing application integration problem with two legacy ERP and CRM systems, and want to improve the operation process and increasing business flexibility. 5 students can form a team, act as a SI and design a SOA solution for the customer. The whole contest is to simulate a full selling cycle of an IT project: the first stage is collecting proposal, the second is to have the top solutions (in this program, top 15 teams) to do presentation and bidding, and the top 5 solution will enter last phase -- system implementation.

We have already over 410 teams from 70 universities. Teams in the IBM China SOA Contest established over 350 blogs such
Leading team . They're the #1 team in the first phase of the contest. The blog's in chinese, but here's a basic transation of the blog from Google: China Blog

What do you think? I am looking forward to announcing the winner in November while I am in China!

Fireworks in NYC!

Happy Late 4th of July!!! Take a look at this exciting fireworks video that I shot in New York.

Also note the electronic version of the July edition of Certification Magazine contains an article on our SOA Certification. It hits the news on June 25.

Are you SOA certified??

A Great Report on Coscon leveraging SOA!

I just received a report that Gartner did on Coscon, a shipping company in China, how they have deployed SOA and their learnings. Coscon undertook an SOA intitiatve to rationalize its core port operation systems and improve overall business agility and responsiveness.

They learnings they shared were:

* Linking IT and Business together. Early on!

* Ensure availability of technical staff and skill (in fact, skills are one of the most important areas for customers!)

* Include senior business analysts

Sandy

Categories : [   coscon  ]

Jun 22 2006, 02:53:00 PM EDT Permalink

Paris and Prague

In Paris, with over 500 attendees, we were able to share real customer stories and deployments as well as new news like our own SOA Business Catalog..

You should really check this out as it allows you to really bring home the value of reuse and the industry or business push of SOA. I would be curious as to your best practices around the infusion of the business and IT.

In Prague, we had 90 very high level business leaders to hear about SOA. Very insightful crowd -- we hosted a dinner at St Agnes's Convent (Klášter sv. Anežky). It is a monastery built in the 1230s -- and since one of the main value propositions is reuse, a customer from an Oil Company in Russia said "I see the tie in to SOA of this dinner location. You have us in a monastery that today we are reusing as a restaurant!"

Today, St Agnes's is used by the National Gallery to display a collection of European medieval art. Check it out!

I will talk to you later!!!

Sandy

Categories : [   soa_business_catalog  |  soa_summit  ]

Jun 20 2006, 04:37:00 PM EDT Permalink

SOA Summit In London!

The SOA summit was a great way to hear from the London customers doing SOA, like City University, Standard Life (Ian writes that "Our measured re-use benefit now stands at 8.5 miillion sterling (16 million US) Feel free to quote us. Well over 100 applications from large to small deployed to our SOA now and many more planned", Norwich Union, and Travelex!

Check out John Patrick's Blog on the SOA AR day as well!

Sandy

Categories : [   soa_business_centric_summit  |  soa_summit  ]

Jun 06 2006, 08:34:00 PM EDT Permalink

Stuck in NYC -- in my car!

"As much as I like Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, I hope those CIO's didn't pick it as Starry Night was painted in 1889 near the mental asylum of Saint-Remy, in, as it turns out, 13 months before his death....

SOA is on its way up and the limit doesn't seem to be in site... So that would make Piet Mondrain's "Broadway Boogie Woogie" (the yellow line one) the best choice. As Mondrain wanted the "...infinitely extendable, and the open-ended space..." that "...stretches far beyond its borders..." as told by David Sylvester about Piet Mondrain.

While (still) sitting here pondering life in the rain, I saw Elisabeth's blog! and the latest review of the InfoWorld SOA day! http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/archives/2006/05/ebizq_audio_pod.php

I head to London on Monday for the SOA Summit there. Will post in my best british accent!

Sandy


Jun 02 2006, 11:58:00 AM EDT Permalink

MOMA!!

We asked 100 CIO which art piece reminded them more of SOA. I will tell you how they voted in my next entry.


May 12 2006, 03:10:40 AM EDT Permalink

Thinking through semantics for SOA

A lot of discussions have occured around semantics for SOA. Any thoughts on these definitions for SOA "terms"..

Service – a repeatable business task represented by a software module deployed on network accessible platforms provided by the service provider. Its interface is described by a service description. It exists to be invoked by or to interact with a service requestor. It may also function as a requestor.

Service Orientation – an approach to integrate business tasks as loosely coupled, linked services

Service Oriented Architecture –An architectural style of the structure of a software system in terms of its components and the services they provide, without regard for the underlying implementation of these components, services and connections between components

Composite application - a set of related & integrated services that support a business process built on an SOA

Components - Definition of a modular unit of functionality, accessed through one or more interfaces. A component may be composed of other components, but a component is not necessarily a service.

Service Component Architecture (SCA) - a set of specifications which describe a model for building applications and systems using a Service-Oriented Architecture. SCA extends and complements prior approaches to implementing services, and SCA builds on open standards such as Web services.

Business Process Management - Covers the full range of application-to-application, inter-application, workflow and person-to-person process management, including process design, automation, management, and continuous improvement.

Service Registry - a searchable registry of service descriptions where service providers may publish their service descriptions. Service requestors may find services and obtain binding information (in the service descriptions) for services during development for static binding or during execution for dynamic binding.