ArchBeat

• Avoid Disaster, Embrace People-Processes Like Change Management (SOA Governance@work)
  Dave Berry asks, "Why do organizations implementing SOA often minimize the importance of people processes such as change management in favor of technical tasks?"
  (tags: oracle otn soa soagovernance enterprisearchitecture)

• OTN Architect Day Heads West (ArchBeat)
  The people I talked with at the Architect Day events Boston, Toronto, and New York expressed genuine appreciation not just for the content of the various presentations, but also the chance to rub elbows, compare notes, and talk shop with their peers in the architect community.
  (tags: oracle otn architect arch2arch events)
• HP Oracle Database Machine, New Approach to Data Warehousing
  "By replacing the FC link between the host database and storage with Voltaire InfiniBand in the HP Oracle Database Machine, LGR has experienced major performance improvements. According to Somekh, queries that used to take minutes now take seconds. He cites benchmark tests comparing the new system to the previous data warehousing system. " -- Drew Robb, Enterprise IT Planet
  (tags: oracle BusinessIntelligence datawarehousing hp)
• ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2009
  "You want to meet people that drive cars with license plates like 'BPEL' or 'WEB 2 OH'?" asks Oracle ACE Ronald van Luttikhuizen. "Find them at ODTUG!"
  (tags: ODTUG oracle oracleace)

The latest OTN Arch2Arch Podcast  features an interview with Bill Dettelback. Bill is a Principal Product Manager at Oracle, and is recognized for his expertise with WebLogic Server, Coherence, Tuxedo, and other Application Grid products. Prior to joining Oracle, Bill was the Product Manager for AquaLogic Enterprise Security at BEA. Bill has spent over 15 years working on enterprise middleware solutions for the Financial Services and Telecommunications industries.

In this program Bill discusses Oracle Application Grid as an architectural concept, describes some of the similarities and differences between Application Grid and other architectural approaches, and talks about the roles Weblogic Server, Coherence, Enterprise Manager, Tuxedo, and JRockit play within the Application Grid architecture.

Listen to: Application Grid: Under the Hood

You’ll find more insight from Bill on the Application Grid Blog, including his post, Scalable Applications: State of Bliss or State of Confusion?

Bill is also a member of Oracle Mix, where you can interact with him directly if you have any questions about the material covered in this podcast. Check out Bill’s Mix Profile.

I’ll wrap up my conversation with Bill Dettelback in the next OTN Arch2Arch Podcast, available next week.

• Oracle WebCenter 11g - Foundation for Oracle Fusion Applications and possibly your ADF applications or Enterprise 2.0 Portal as well
  "WebCenter has evolved, as has ADF which is the foundation for WebCenter," writes Oracle ACE Director Lucas Jellema. "WC is now one of the cornerstones for Oracle Fusion Applications. WebCenter 11g is like the swan that started out as the ugly duckling. Well worth a look."
  (tags: webcenter oraclefusionmiddleware ADF)
• SOA and BPM approaches - Oracle Wiki
  This ORacle Wiki page contains the results of the SOA/BPM symposium at ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2009, organized by Oracle ACE Directors Lonneke Dikmans, Lucas Jellema, and Mike van Alst. "This can serve as a start for gathering of knowledge and common solutions in SOA/BPM projects, " says van Alst.
  (tags: soa oracle otn soagovernance oracleace bpm soaintegration wiki eda)
• Podcast: Under the Hood: Oracle Application Grid (Part 1)
  Principal product manager Bill Dettelback joins host Bob Rhubart for a nuts-and-bolts discussion of WebLogic, Coherence, Tuxedo and other products behind Oracle Application Grid.
  (tags: applicatiogrid tuxedo coherence weblogic podcast arch2arch)
• Thanks for the Memories, ODTUG and Oracle ACEs (OTN TechBlog)
  OTN boss Justin Kestelyn's photo montage of ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2009.
  (tags: ODTUG otn)
• Oracle Excellence Awards for most innovative use of Application Grid (David Chappell Blog)
  Dave Chappell offers information on the registration and nomination process for the Oracle Excellence Awards for those who have demonstrated major kung-fu in WebLogic, Tuxedo, Coherence, or JRockit.
  (tags: applicationgrid grid tuxedo coherence weblogic jrockit)
• 2009 Oracle SIG Presentations available (ORACLE/IBM Integrated Solutions)
  Didier Wojciechowski offers a complete list of the links to the presentations from the 2009 conference of the International zSeries Oracle SIG.
  (tags: zseries oracle ibm)

After stops this past spring in Boston,  Toronto, and the Big Apple, OTN Architect Day is headed west for two stops in California in July:

July 9 – Westin Pasadena Hotel, Pasadena, CA (More information)

July 22 – Hotel Sofitel, Redwood Shores, CA (More information)

The people I talked with at the Architect Day events Boston, Toronto, and New York expressed genuine appreciation not just for the content of the various presentations, but also the chance to rub elbows, compare notes, and talk shop with their peers in the architect community. 

These events are free, but seating is limited, and despite the lazy days of summer, time is running out. So take a moment to register to make sure you’ve got a seat.

Architect Day Pasadena -  Register now

Architect Day Redwood Shores – Register now

• Oracle Fusion Middeware 11g ACE Director Briefing: "July 1 will be a happy day" (OTN TechBlog)
  In this casual video interview with OTN's Justin Kestelyn, Oracle ACE Director Chris Bucchere says that after attending the recent Oracle Fusion Middleware briefing, "The acquisition of BEA is finally going to make sense to me now."
  (tags: oracle fusionmiddleware oracleace)
• What is going on in the BI/DW world? (The Data Warehouse Insider)
  Jean-Pierre Dijcks summarizes the panel discussion during the Business Intelligence/Data Warehousing panel at ODTUG Kaleidoscope.
  (tags: Middleware ODTUG BusinessIntelligence datawarehouse)
• Service Architecture - SOA: Religion as a Service
  "Tongue-in-cheek" doesn't begin to describe this funny, clever, and thought-provoking post by Steve Jones. It's funny 'cause it's true.
  (tags: soa religion)
• Cary Millsap: An Essay on Science
  "Different people have different thresholds of skepticism," writes Oracle ACE Director Cory Milsap. "Some people believe new ideas, whether they're true or false, with very little persuasion. The people who are persuaded easily to believe false things cannot contribute much useful new knowledge to their communities (irrespective of how much they might publish)."
  (tags: trust community oracle datawarehouse transactionprocessing ODTUG)
• Measuring Influence and Reputation | The AppsLab
  Jake Kuramoto opens his excellent post on critical factors in social media with this: "Trust is the key component to New Web. Without trust, it’s difficult to build a community around anything."
  (tags: statistics data internet socialmedia trust community)

• Oracle VM 2.1.5 (Wim Coekaerts Blog)
  Wim Coekaerts offers key points of the recent Oracle VM 2.1.5 release.
  (tags: virtualization)
• AMIS Technology blog » Blog Archive » Oracle Fusion Applications - it is for real! (and impressive too)
  "Here at the ODTUG 2009 conference, I have learned that Fusion Applications are for real, " writes Oracle ACE Director Lucas Jellema. "And I have seen them as well. And I was impressed. After several years of hearing, interpreting and to some extent telling the Fusion stories, now it all seems to come together."
  (tags: ofm fusionmiddleware ODTUG oracleace)
• Enterprise Data Mashup - SOA based mashup
  "Currently SOA composition is very much a wired model (SCA or ESB)," writes Rakesh Saha, "but if we can allow user-level composition to pipe the different information sources in real-time, I think we are pretty close to enterprise mashup - Enterprise 'Data' Mashup."
  (tags: soa web2.0 enterprise2.0)
• That’s Rich! Putting a smile on ADF Faces
  Recapping one of his ODTUG Kaleidoscope 2009 presentations, Oracle ACE Director Luca Jellema explains that he's a fan of ADF Faces 11g, "because it is the first software development technology ever that allows me (with all my personal handicaps) to develop user interfaces that are not only functionally useful but that look good as well. And if I can manage that, so can you..."
  (tags: ADF Faces 11g oracle oracleace ODTUG Kaleidoscope)

Writing in IT Business Edge, blogger Loraine Lawson asks:

But what if SOA governance isn't part of the solution, but part of the problem? A new report by global analyst and consulting firm Ovum suggests that, given the elitist approach to SOA governance, it could be contributing to the SOA backlash we've seen since spring of last year.

SOA governance may indeed be the problem if there is a bad match between the SOA maturity level of the organization in question and the SOA governance program implemented by that organization. SOA Governance is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. As written about in this blog and elsewhere, an effective SOA governance program is one that has been specifically tailored to the organization.

Read Loraine's article: SOA Governance: New Report Suggests It's Part of Problem | Blogs | ITBusinessEdge.com

• The Application Server as Efficiency Driver | ITBusinessEdge.com
  "Whether or not you have already virtualized your production environment," writes Mike Piech, "there are important efficiencies to be gained by effectively using the clustering and management automation capabilities of your application servers."
  (tags: virtualization grid applicationserver)
• Podcast: SOA Around the Globe
  Oracle SOA Suite Developer's Guide authors Matt Wright and Antony Reynolds join host Bob Rhubart to discuss SOA in the UK and in the Asia-Pacific region, assess how the economic downturn has affected SOA programs, and reveal the most important books on their shelves.
  (tags: soa oracle otn podcast soasuite arch2arch)

The complete OTN Arch2Arch Podcast interview with Oracle SOA Suite Developer’s Guide authors Matt Wright and Antony Reynolds is now available.

• Part 1: Oracle SOA Suite Developer’s Guide: An Architect’s Perspective
  Matt and Antony discuss the concept’s presented in their book and indentify the most important takeaway for architects.
• Part 2: SOA Around the Globe
  Matt and Antony talk about the differences and similarities between SOA initiatives in the UK and in APAC, and reveal the most important books on their bookshelves

You’ll find more insight from Matt and Antony on their blogs:

• Matt’s SOA Blog
• Antony Reynold’s Blog

If you have questions for Matt and Antony you can interact with them directly through the OTN Arch2Arch Podcast Group on Oracle Mix.

Interesting program note: The international nature of this interview made scheduling a bit tricky. I conducted the interview from my home office near Cleveland, Ohio at 5:30pm ET on a Tuesday.  Antony Reynolds dialed in from his home in the UK where it was 10:30pm (no wonder he sounds a bit tired in the interview). Matt Wright, who lives in Australia, dialed in from the future -- 7:30 am on Wednesday. 

Coming Soon

The next OTN Arch2Arch podcast takes you on a deep dive into the products that are the nuts and bolts behind Application Grid with guest Bill Dettelback, principal product manager.