What is a great software company

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Didier

Judith is discussing the difference between a good and a great software company.

Interesting insights!

1. Great companies start with a predictable business model and turn the model upside down. They look three years ahead and experiment with innovation. They have to have a combination of intuition, risk, and innovation. These companies are willing to take enough risk to win big but smart enough to know the difference between great opportunities and pipe dreams.

2. Great companies find new areas to position themselves for leadership. This is very tough to pull off. The area has to be important enough for the market to pay attention to but not too big that they look silly. Great companies never try to take a big existing market with established leaders and try to claim primacy.

3. Great companies build great relationships. Management at these companies builds an ecosystem of influencers including great customers who will talk about the value, press, analysts, and partners who together help the company create a persona of innovation and greatness while the company is still building.

Great software companies are complicated to build. The software business a complicated and brutal with lots of failures at every turn. […] It isn’t easy. Great software companies are even more difficult and scary to build.

Comparison of Open Source Application Servers

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Didier

openlogic

I have found – by accident really! – a very interesting presentation on SlideShare concerning the different leading Open Source Application Servers on the market.

This very solid evaluation is proposed by OpenLogic.

I have summarized parts of it below.

Goal of the presentation /

Help you choose which open source application servers to evaluate more thoroughly:

JBoss
GlassFish
dm Server
Geronimo
Tomcat

Which open source application servers are your using or considering using /

appserver

J2EE Didn’t Fill the Need /

EJB 2 is difficult to use
- Many people consider it unnecessary difficult
- Entity Beans were especially problematic
- But even session beans earned bad reputations
The Open Source community responds
- OSS packages mitigating the problem
  - Hibernate instead of Entity Beans
  - Spring as a component model
- They were very successful in the marketplace
Many Spring/Hibernate applications
- Required only Tomcat to run but also work in full app servers

When Tomcat Is Not Enough /

Tomcat doesn’t support
- JMS
- EJBs
- Other…
Enterprises need integration
- The more mature the app is, the more likely it is to be added
Add-ons
- It was possible to add things that Tomcat was missing
- But this became a “build your own Frankenstein” exercise

Java Enterprise Edition in the Meantime /

Weaknesses in EJB 2 model were recognized
Work on new specification was completed
- J2EE → JEE 5
- EJB 2 → EJB 3
  - Entity Beans → JPA
EJB 3
- Simple annotation-based programming model
- Not everybody adopted EJB 3
JEE 6 will embrace modularity
- Profiles, including web profile

Choices in 2007 /

Use Spring
- Start with full app server
- Start with Tomcat, build from there
Use EJB 3
- Requires full app servers
Full application server
- Pros – everything you are likely to need, could use EJB
- Cons – complexity, might use more resources then Tomcat
Tomcat
- Pros – small, simple, low resource usage
- Cons – you might need to build your own app server, no EJB

OSGi /

Started in 1999
- Recently got a lot of exposure
- In particular, R 4.1
  - JSR-294
OSGi brings
- Dependency management and modularity
- Ability to load only parts it needs
OSGi currently has a lot of mindshare

The central questions /

Decisions, decisions
- EJB 3 or Spring
- Spring on dm Server or on J2EE/JEE server?
- OSGi or not OSGi
- Do I need EJB 2 compatibility?
- In addition, there are many “old” considerations
Servers are not “all inclusive”
- EJB 3 apps won’t work on SpringSource dm Server or Tomcat

Assessment JBoss /

JBoss Thought Leadership

Complete ecosystem
- Portal
- ESB
- BPM
JBoss has history of innovation
- Pioneer of EJB 3
- Seam Application Framework
- Web Beans
OSGi
- Support in JBoss 5

JBoss for Developers

Excellent customizability
- JMX-based, don’t deploy what you don’t need
Seam is worth a look for developers
JDK 6 with 4.2.3 and 5.0 GA
- JDK 5 compiled binaries work on both JDK 5 and JDK 6
JBoss IDE
- Eclipse-based
- JBoss Tools
  - Free version (RHDS is paid version)

JBoss in Production

Dependability
- Excellent clustering and failover capability
- Reliable in production
Monitoring and deployment capabilities
- Not really oriented toward system administration out of the box
  - Command line/file edit flavor of configuration
  - GUI tools (Tomcat manager and JMX Console) are fairly basic
- Excellent 3rd party tools available for monitoring
  - Hyperic
  - GroundWork IT
  - JON *

JBoss – Conclusions

Strengths
- Mature, scalable and reliable
- Good support for J2EE and EJB 3
- Seam framework
Weaknesses
- Limited GUI-based configuration in open source version
- LGPL License may be a concern for ISV’s embedding app servers

Assessment SpringSource dm Server /

SpringSource dm Server

Newcomer
- Released in April of 2008
- GPL license
- Incorporates many mature components
  - Spring Framework
  - Tomcat
  - Equinox
- dm Server users are very early adopters
Different take on app server
- OSGi support
- No support for EJB
- No JMS out of the box

dm Server for Developers

Server works well with Spring Framework
IDE
- Spring IDE – IDE for Eclipse platform
- Support for NetBeans and IntelliJ
OSGi support
- Resolves “dependency hell”
- But requires application migration to take advantage of it
Supports Java 5 and 6

dm Server Thought Leadership

OSGi-based
- Good OSGi implementation
- OSGi discussed a lot in their documentation
No support for EJB
- No support for EJB 3 or old EJB 2 spec
Spring offers similar functionality to Seam
- Which is somewhat more mature
- Although some of the Seam ideas might be somewhat more powerful
  - Bijection

dm Server – Conclusions

Strengths
- Support for Spring Framework
- Support for OSGi
Weaknesses
- Newcomer
- No EJB
- Limited experience among workforce

Assessment Tomcat /

Tomcat

First release (3.0.x) in 1999
- Apache license
Servlet container
- Lightweight server
Used in many other app servers
- JBoss
- dm Server
- Geronimo

Tomcat – Conclusions

Strengths
- Lightweight
- Well known and tested

Weaknesses

No support for EJB, JMS or almost anything else outside of “web side”

Tomcat in Development and Production

Tomcat 6 supports
- Clustering
- Failover
Widely used for both development and production
Supported in most popular IDEs

Conclusions /

App servers are not just about the JEE specs
Make some high-level decisions before evaluation
- Do I need EJB 2 compatibility?
- Do I intend to follow EJB 3 and other industry standards?
- Do I need something fast, lightweight, and easy to use?
- Do I have a need for lifecycle management of server components (through OSGi)?
- Do I need support for dynamic languages like Groovy and JRuby?
- Am I an early adopter of new technology?

Recommendations /

“I’m using EJBs and I’m conservative”
- JBoss, GlassFish
“I don’t need XA/JMS/EJB”
- Tomcat, JBoss, GlassFish, dm Server
“I’m using Spring”
- Conservative – JBoss, Tomcat, GlassFish
- Leading edge – dm Server
“I need to embed an app server in my commercial code”
- Tomcat, Geronimo
“I use Spring heavily and I need OSGi”
- I need it today and don’t need EJBs – dm Server
- I need it soon and/or need EJBs – GlassFish, JBoss
“I use Seam”
- JBoss
“I want ActiveMQ/Spring/Hibernate preinstalled”
- Geronimo
“I need dynamic language support”
- Groovy/Grails – dm Server, JBoss, GlassFish
- JRuby/Rails – GlassFish, Geronimo

Innoveo Skye – Product strategy workshop

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Didier

Yesterday and today, workshop with the Innoveo Management Team near Zurich for refining and documenting our Innoveo Skye™ (content, scope, roadmap) software solution for insurances (front-end and distribution).

More information there about Skye™.

Innoveo at the InsuranceCom conference

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Didier

Innoveo was again this year partner of the InsuranceCom congress in Zurich.

Lot of very interesting presentations (main topic was innovation this year) and many very good contacts and exchanges!

insuranceCom

International IT market is resisting the downturn

Posted on January 15, 2009 by Didier

via EITO

Despite the weakness in the international economy, demand for information technology (IT) will continue to increase in the coming year. According to the new forecast of the international market research institute EITO, turnover of computers, software and IT services in Western Europe will increase by 2 percent in 2009, to a round 315 billion Euro. “IT expenditure of businesses will continue to grow even in an economic recession”, said EITO chairman Bruno Lamborghini. “Information technology is of strategic importance for companies in a crisis situation because it makes operations more efficient and more economic.” Increasing demand for IT was also to be expected from contractors working in the public sector, where investment has limited dependence on economic fluctuations. According to the latest forecast, providers of software and IT services in Western Europe will achieve a substantial increase in turnover of 3.2 percent in the coming year, to 228 billion. In comparison, manufacturers of IT hardware are facing a loss of 1.3 percent, to 87 billion Euro.

The EITO market researchers are expecting development of the IT market in Western Europe, which includes the 15 core countries of the EU with the addition of Switzerland and Norway, to be more robust than in the USA. IT turnover in the United States is forecast to grow by 0.8 percent to 347 billion Euro. Before the global financial crisis became more acute, EITO was assuming growth of the IT market at a level of 4.4 percent in the USA.

The global IT market for the year 2009 will grow, according to the EITO forecast, by 2.7 percent to 983 billion Euro. As in Europe, suppliers of software and IT services around the world are growing particularly strongly. Their turnover world-wide is forecast to grow by 3.4 percent to 677 billion Euro in the coming year. The hardware market is increasing by 1.3 percent to 305 billion Euro. The driving forces are emerging markets like China, India and Russia, which still have some ground to make up in developing their IT infrastructure.

So, summarized, concerning turnover forecast for 2009

Worldwide:
- Overall: +2.7%
- Software and IT services: +3.4%
- IT Hardware: +1.3%
Western Europe (15 EU countries, Switzerland, Norway)
- Overall: +2.0%
- Software and IT services: +3.2%
- IT Hardware: –1.3%
USA:
- Overall: +0.8%
Western Europe more robust than in the USA
Driving forces internationally: China, India, Russia (generally speaking: emerging markets)

Innoveo – A real life example of productive SOA solutions

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Didier

Two years ago a first version of the publication “Service Oriented Architecture for Dummies” has been published. Therein our reference customer, the Helvetia Insurance Group, was mentioned together with the solution we have successfully put in place for them.

In the second, reviewed edition, Innoveo has been dedicated again one full chapter of the book. Still our solution is considered to be a practical, state of the art example of how SOA can work in real life, creating both, an enhanced efficiency and cost optimization on the IT side as well as real business benefits on the customer side.

We are proud of having been selected by Judith Hurwitz for her book and we wish Judith again an amazing success with this new publication.

Find more information about the book on Judith Hurwitz’s Weblog. Judith is one of the authors and we’ve had the pleasure to be directly in contact with her to discuss the content and the progresses we’ve made in the time between the first and the second edition.

You can order the book at Amazon.com.

Get additional information about our consulting services and our insurance frontend solution Innoveo Skye™ by visiting our company website.

cross-posted as Innoveo News.

Defining goals is a pain in the neck, BUT…

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Didier

via Seth Godin

A good one, to (re)start properly the new year with some inspiring quotes from Seth!

Having goals is a pain in the neck.

If you don’t have a goal (a corporate goal, a market share goal, a personal career goal, an athletic goal…) then you can just do your best. You can take what comes. You can reprioritize on a regular basis. If you don’t have a goal, you never have to worry about missing it. If you don’t have a goal you don’t need nearly as many excuses, either.

Not having a goal lets you make a ruckus, or have more fun, or spend time doing what matters right now, which is, after all, the moment in which you are living.

The thing about goals is that living without them is a lot more fun, in the short run.

It seems to me, though, that the people who get things done, who lead, who grow and who make an impact… those people have goals.

Scenarios For 2009: How CIOs Should Prepare (Forrester research)

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Didier

via Ed Cone

Ed is pointing to a very interesting document from Forrester about the reactions of CIOs, classified by sectors. Including the Finance & Insurance industries.

For the Insurance Industry, the analysis of Forrester is quite aligned with what we are perceiving at Innoveo.

The analysis is very recent and was presented during a webinar on December 11, 2008.

What is the insurance industry doing to address the downturn?

Anticipating more cut backs for 2009.
Insurance has already made significant cuts in IT spending early in 2008.
Growth in IT purchases for Finance & Insurance:
- 2007: +8%
- 2008: -2%
- 2009: -3%

How will the recession affect the Insurance Industry?

Shallow recession: GOOD
Deep recession: NEUTRAL

What are firms in these sectors doing to address the downturn?

Most firms focus on IT’s traditional cost-cutting tactics.
New investments (30% of the overall costs):
- Portfolio segmentation
  - Use commodity / low-cost resources
  - Eliminate large-sized efforts
  - Focus on short-term returns
- Adopt lean thinking, reduce complexity
- Shorten planning horizons
Operational costs (70% of the overall costs):
- Consolidation/standardization, consistent with the business model
  - Data centers, server/storage virtualization
  - Consolidate and squeeze vendors
  - Centralization of IT contracts
- Lean thinking — reduce complexity,
- Staff and asset utilization optimization
  - Delay upgrades and refresh
  - Downgrade for lower volumes
  - Automate where it makes sense

The Finance & Insurance sectors are considering to invest in the following actions in 2009:

Retiring older applications or technologies to save support costs 50%
Adjusting project portfolios to increase near-term return on investment 55%
Assessing the IT organization structure to improve efficiencies 60%
Investing in technologies such as automation to reduce IT operating costs 70%

Leading firms take multiple alternative approaches:

Traditional IT tactics to deliver short-term results
Agility to offer alternatives in the long run — providing a lasting ability to rapidly shift partners, customers, and markets
- Focus on increasing ability to change: adding/removing services, reselling services from third parties, channel integration
- Focus on external interfaces to data and systems
  - Apply SOA for strategic flexibility
  - Look to third parties for flexible interfaces
- Increase flexibility of contracts
- Employ agile development methodologies
Innovation to accelerate out of the downturn — new business models and product/service offerings in addition to operational improvements
- Accelerating out of the downturn requires a strategic focus, but without higher overall costs
- Use a portion of CapEx for innovative ideas
- Focus innovation criteria on business strategies
- Use Web 2.0 technologies to farm ideas from across your Innovation Network — internal and external
- Employ a different idea pipeline / steering committee
- Keep investment performance metrics

Summary for the Finance & Insurance sectors:

summary forrester

2009 will be a complicated year for software

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Didier

via Judith Hurwitz

One of the first “predictions list” for 2009 for software companies.

Very interesting insights!

Software as a Service (SaaS) goes mainstream. It isn’t just for small companies anymore. […]
Tough economic times favor the big and stable technology companies. […] The only way emerging companies will survive is to do what I call “follow the pain”. In other words, come up with compelling technology that solves really tough problems that others can’t do. They need to fill the white space that the big vendors have not filled yet. […]
The Service Oriented Architecture market enters the post hype phase. […]
Service Management gets hot. […]
The desktop takes a beating in a tough economy. When times get tough companies look for ways to cut back and I expect that the desktop will be an area where companies will delay replacement of existing PCs. […]
The Cloud grows more serious. […] Just as companies are moving to SaaS because of economic reasons, companies will move to Clouds with the same goal – decreasing capital expenditures. Companies will start to have to gain an understanding of the impact of trusting a third party provider. […]
There will be tech companies that fail in 2009. […]
Open Source will soar in this tight market. […] Companies that offer commercial open source will emerge as strong players.
Software goes vertical. I am not talking about packaged software. I anticipate that more and more companies will begin to package everything based on a solutions focus. […]
Appliances become a software platform of choice for customers. […] More software solutions will be sold with prepackaged solutions to make the acceptance rate for complex enterprise software easier.
Companies will spend money on anticipation management. […] Companies will need to understand not just what happened last year but where they should invest for the future. They cannot do this without understanding their data.

Wow, good food for thoughts!

I am excited also to be able to read the new version of the book “SOA for Dummies”, written, among others, by Judith Hurwitz. Innoveo should have there its own chapter, hopefully ;-)

10 characteristics of software companies that will fail

Posted on December 8, 2008 by Didier