Google Chrome and SOA

Google Chrome was launched a couple of days ago, and had much coverage by the media around the world, but I think the most interesting comments about Chrome has been done by SOA expert professionals, like David Linthicum and Joe McKendrick.


David Linthicum commented in his blog on InfoWorld, called Real World SOA, in two posts: Google Chrome and SOA and Google Chrome seems to be shining for SOA.

Below, are some comments from Linthicum about the Google Chrome:
"I view the browser as really the next platform, something that will allow you to access a multitude of rich Internet applications, services, and have them work and play well together, no matter if you're on a traditional desktop, phone, PDA, or a screen in your car. Chrome seems to be a much larger leap in that direction, built from the ground up to deal with Internet-delivered applications and Web services, abstracting you away from the native operating system.

So, what does this have to do with SOA? Everything. SOA, at its essence, is the use of services as a way to deal with architecture. We expose services that we have been dealing with for years (legacy), we create new services, and we leverage services in the cloud that we neither own nor host. Then, we're able to create business solutions by mixing and matching services into processes and/or applications, simply put.

Thus, having a browser that is built for the use of services, Internet delivered or internal, using better operating and security mechanisms, could revolutionize the way we look at SOA.

I've always said that most SOA going on out there is through the mixing and matching of external Web-delivered services externalized through mashups, really as a way to prove the concept and to sell SOA internally. Now we have a better platform (browser) to do that.

In other words, the presence of Chrome will drive much SOA in the short term; it looks like a much better tool for the job."

In the second post, Linthicum talks about the comments in his previous post and said: "Just to be clear. Chrome is not a savior for SOA/WOA. Its value is that it considers the use of Web delivered applications, and Web-delivered services, within the architecture of the browser. It's not an afterthought. This is a huge shift in thinking, and something that is desperately needed as we drive toward the use of services for applications and composites where the browser plays a key role. In essence, Chrome will become a valuable piece of the architectural puzzle, perhaps a missing piece."


Joe McKendrick commented in his blog on Zdnet, called Service Oriented, in a post called Analyst: Google Chrome ‘SOA ready’: "But to look at it from an enterprise perspective, Chrome may help lay the groundwork for a smoother path to service oriented architecture as well."

He also commented the David Linthicum's post: "Dave emphasizes that new Web-aware browsers and platforms such as Chrome help make a better case for SOA to the business. I agree, and we see the proof in the pudding with the mashup/Enterprise 2.0 phenomenon — everybody gets it right away. Chrome can only help."

The integrated approach: Governance, Risk, and Compliance Management

A couple of days ago, Joe McKendrick wrote an interesting post, published in the blog of Informatica Enterprise Data Management, entitled What is 'GRC,' and How Can It Bring the Enterprise Together?

He talks about how the companies nowadays need be able to document the reliability and quality of data, to fulfill mandates such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

For this, the companies need a more automated, systematic form to integrate those information.

He explains that the integrated approach: Governance, Risk, and Compliance Management can build sustainable compliance management: "These include governance, or the oversight of corporate activities and processes; risk management, or the identification, assessment and monitoring of risks and controls; and compliance management. Most importantly, GRC brings together teams of people that normally would not be working with each other. The distinct categories of governance, risk management and compliance were often run by separate groups of specialists. Companies increasingly recognize that there needs to be a single focus –that finance, IT, security and operations teams need to be engaged in a common purpose of bringing greater flexibility and transparency to the way data is managed and dispersed throughout the enterprise."

He mentions Lee Dittmar, a principal with Deloitte, and a thought leader in GRC, that observed, in an article published in the BTQuarterly:
"As leaders strive to meet the raised bar on corporate governance, to achieve better risk mitigation and to meet increasingly complex compliance challenges, a common element is recognized as being critical: high-quality information. They need the right information, at the right time, at the right place, and in the right form. They need relevant, timely, accurate, transparent, and reliable information.
This requirement for higher-quality information puts intense focus on IT's role as a key enabler for improving GRC connectivity - helping uncover its collective synergies and boosting support of stronger, more efficient businesses. Yet CIOs and IT managers find themselves still wrestling with organizational fragmentation and resistance issues, such as ongoing complexity in the corporate silos and continuing manual processes. It's difficult to create a more ideal environment, in which decentralized units are bridged and systems and controls exist on a common platform when they're not free to fully explore all of the possible interrelationships and common dependencies inherent in GRC."

He finishes the article, also mentioning Dittmar: "GRC brings to light the need to be able to transform overwhelming amounts of data coming in from all corners of the enterprise into "information that serves as a strategic asset of the business."

Both are interesting articles (Joe McKendrick and Lee Dittmar) about Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC).

A good way to automate and integrate information is through the concepts of Enterprise Decision Management(EDM), with its focus on the automation of operational decisions using analytics and rules and also focus on management.