VORTEX Digest
John Gallant Spotlights Top Network News and Issues
Comments to: mailto:jgallant@vortex.net
June 9, 2005
Volume 6, Number 40
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In This Issue:
* Get ready for the VORTEX Digest blog
* Will customers continue to buy traditional packaged apps?
* Complexities that bog down enterprise apps
* Announcing VORTEX 2005
* Subscription information
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"Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more
complex than you can imagine."
Goethe
Dear Vorticians,
If all goes according to plan, this is the last week you'll
receive this missive in its traditional format. As I mentioned
earlier, I'll be launching the VORTEX blog, which will enable me
to cover issues on a more frequent basis, as well as keep the
dialogue going among fellow Vorticians.
The blog will be found at
http://www.networkworld.com/weblogs/vortex.html and I hope you'll
add that to your favorites list, taking the place of that Web
site with the Deep Throat theories. Just so you won't suffer any
Digest withdrawal, you'll continue to receive a weekly e-mail
containing capsules of the week's blog entries and links to the
full discussions. I hope you'll let me know how you like this new
approach, and I hope you'll continue to share your thoughts on
what you read, either while perusing the blog or the e-mail
alert.
Recently, I learned about something new - at least the concept
was new to me. I'd love to know if this is something that you've
already heard about and whether you believe it will get any
traction in the marketplace. (If this is really obvious stuff,
resist the urge to tell me that I'm losing touch with reality.)
I was having a discussion about investment opportunities with a
seasoned VC, Amos Barzilay, and the topic turned to enterprise
applications. I explained that my question about that market is
not so much around what applications opportunities exist, but
more around what form-factor future enterprise applications will
take.
I wonder if customers will continue to buy traditional packaged
applications, with all the deployment issues that weight them
down. With all the concern about compliance and the loss of
customer data, will the ASP model be stunted? How will apps
vendors deliver products in a services-oriented world?
Tough questions, in response to which Barzilay suggested I look
into the model of "software applications." And to get a better
understanding of what that term means, he directed me to Peter
Relan, the CEO of a company called Business Signatures that helps
companies manage, and get more profit from, their Web business
operations.
Relan, who's worked in senior positions in Oracle and as the CIO
of Webvan, explained that applications in enterprise environments
are bogged down by three different types of complexity (remember:
complexity is the killer app):
* The complexity of dependent technologies, meaning all the other
stuff you need to make sure an enterprise application actually
works. Relan cites the fact that he had to go out and buy COBOL
compilers to make one ERP system operate as promised.
* The complexity of data management - getting information
structured and into warehouses and other repositories, all
requiring the hiring and maintenance of expensive DBAs.
* The complexity of integration, meaning all the work that goes
into getting an application integrated into the overall IT
ecosystem.
All of these forces conspire to complicate the deployment of
enterprise apps and, thus, slow down the market and limit the
opportunity for entrepreneurs and existing apps providers. So,
when Business Signatures (http://www.bizsigs.com) developed its
products it embraced the software appliance approach.
Essentially, each of BizSigs applications is a self-contained
software unit that includes the application logic plus an entire
open source software stack - operating system, Web server, etc. -
designed to run on 'bare metal,' meaning any server you want. The
software contains its own database and data management tools and
uses XML for all data import/export. You simply plop this
'software application' into your environment and it runs. It's
very simple, according to Relan, to link it to other systems,
thanks to XML.
Not only does the software appliance sound clean and simple, it
seems to me to be a terrific way for apps developers to
capitalize on the open source opportunity. Thanks to the LAMP
(Linux/Apache/MySQL/PPP) stack, you can build the underlying
support infrastructure right into the app and, voila,
applications become like an appliance that you plop into the
data center.
When something sounds that simple, I get suspicious, however. So,
what's wrong with the software appliance story? Or what's right
with it? Who else is doing this? Is it the beginning of a trend?
So many questions. So many readers. What do you have for answers?
Let me know at mailto:jgallant@vortex.net.
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Announcing VORTEX 2005!
VORTEX 2005: Setting the IT Agenda
Breakthrough to Value
Oct. 24-26 at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco
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Join John Gallant, Geoffrey Moore and the key stakeholders in
enterprise IT - including top CIOs, IT industry executives, up-
and-coming technology disruptors and investors - to reset, renew
and refresh the agenda of the $1 trillion enterprise IT market.
This year's theme, Breakthrough to Value, addresses the critical
challenge facing CIOs and their technology partners as both
strive to provide real value to their business, their customers
and their shareholders. This year's agenda is packed with
thought-provoking dialog between successful CIOs (including
Avnet, Levi Strauss, Electronic Arts, Nortel Networks, QUALCOMM)
and frank conversations with top IT providers (including AT&T,
Cisco, EMC, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Sun, Red Hat).
Register by July 15 and save! We welcome all Vorticians to join
us at VORTEX2005 and are pleased to offer you a special
registration rate of $2, 795(a $700 savings).
http://www.vortex.net/V5E1VD
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ABOUT VORTEX DIGEST
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VORTEX Digest is written weekly by Executive Producer John
Gallant and offers an ongoing dialogue on matters raised at The
VORTEX Conference, and within the VORTEX Community.
VORTEX is an exclusive, invitation-only event for senior
executives that brings together all the key elements: leadership,
thought, funding, and regulatory expertise, to shape the future
of the network business and the technologies that drive it.
VORTEX shakes off the hype and helps you understand where you can
win new customers, and find new revenue in a time of dramatic and
seemingly unpredictable change.
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Copyright: Network World, Inc. 2005
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