From the front of the Oracle Siebel CRM classroom

Last month I promised I would write about a project where everything went wrong and still managed to be considered a success. The customer was a major bank that had gone through 5 mergers in 6 years. They were looking for a way to consolidate their business and bring together data segmented across many different banking applications. On this project the implementation team did too many customizations, wrote too much code, came in over budget, and delivered the project late. Despite all of these problems our customer had the solution they needed and saw the project as a success.

Several weeks ago I attended the delivery of an Integrating Siebel Applications 8.0 training in Amsterdam. One of the topics in the class started me thinking about present day problems and what the future may hold in store for us, so this month I thought I would try my hand at a science fiction short story. By the way, the topic that got me thinking was that of "Federated Data". Since the 1970's I have been reading and dealing with the problem of "Island's of Automation", which I define as the construction of dependent automation processes relying on the replication of common data, spread over disparate data structures. Federated Data storage techniques and technologies may finally offer a solution and change the way we design and develop lower cost and more accurate business solutions.

The year is 2055, and much to my amazement not only has medical technology extended my life so that I can celebrate my 100'th Birthday, technology and sensible diet ( I did say this was a work of fiction) ensures that I am mobile without pain, clear of mind, and contributing to the world around me. Still living in the Netherlands I have finally learned the Dutch language and happily celebrate the 15'th anniversary of the World Wide Federated Information project.