Is Cisco AON the new-age message broker?

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: STEVE TAYLOR AND JIM METZLER ON WIDE
AREA NETWORKING
07/19/05
Today's focus: Is Cisco AON the new-age message broker?

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Cisco aims at application integration
* Links related to Wide Area Networking
* Featured reader resource
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Adaptive WAN: Enabling Web Services, Networked Remote Storage
and Grid Computing

Web services, interconnecting geographically separated storage
systems, grid computing ... Individually or collectively, these
three IT trends can place significant bandwidth and performance
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these trends will affect your network and how you can
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THE NEW DATA CENTER: SPOTLIGHT ON STORAGE

Network World's latest report takes a look at storage trends
such as virtualization, encryption and archiving. Here you will
also find seven tips for managing storage in the new data
center, how storage encryption can help ease the threat of
identity theft, why one exec believes its all about the
information and more. Click here:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=108442
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Today's focus: Is Cisco AON the new-age message broker?

By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

In last week's first newsletter, we stated that a company's
business and functional managers perceive the value of IT as
coming primarily from applications, and not from infrastructure
components such as the company's WAN. We also stated that as a
result of this perception, we must continually find ways to
identify how the WAN can add value to the company's key
applications.

Cisco recently announced its Application-Oriented Networking
(AON) platform and has referred to it as one of the company's
most ambitious initiatives. Cisco also claims that AON helps an
enterprise to transition to new architectures, such as
service-oriented architecture (SOA). AON is clearly intended to
introduce functionality into the WAN that potentially adds
significant value to a company's suite of applications.

Information flows between applications in a series of messages
that describe events, requests, and replies. An example of such
a message would be an electronic purchase order from one system
to another. Since there is not a standard that defines the
message structures and formats, each application has a unique
interface. This creates application silos; e.g., applications
that cannot communicate with each other.

AON is intended to address the problem of application
integration. One of the common ways to perform application
integration today is through a message broker that sits between
the applications and translates the disparate message structures
and formats between them.

IBM's WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker is one of
the leading message brokers. As part of the AON announcement,
Cisco announced that it would embed the WebSphere client into
AON.

The next newsletter will continue the discussion of AON.

RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS

Message broker primer
http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan3405

A list of message brokers
http://www.middleware.org/mom/broker.html

Cisco's AON: Ultimate vendor lockout or something more?
Network World, 07/04/05
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2005/070405tolly.html?rl

Q&A: Cisco's CTO on AON, data center future
Computerworld, 06/23/05
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/062305-cisco-aon.html?rl

Cisco puts focus on Web services, starting with AON
Network World, 06/27/05
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/062705-cisco.html?rl

Cisco covets anti-spam role
Network World, 07/18/05
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/071805-cisco-spam.html?rl
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates
and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. For more detailed
information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter,
connect to Webtorials <http://www.webtorials.com/>, the premier
site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and
market research. Taylor can be reached at
<mailto:taylor@webtorials.com>

Jim Metzler is the Vice President of Ashton, Metzler &
Associates, a consulting organization that focuses on leveraging
technology for business success. Jim assists vendors to refine
product strategies, service providers to deploy technologies and
services, and enterprises evolve their network infrastructure.
He can be reached at <mailto:jim@ashtonmetzler.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Ciena
Adaptive WAN: Enabling Web Services, Networked Remote Storage
and Grid Computing

Web services, interconnecting geographically separated storage
systems, grid computing ... Individually or collectively, these
three IT trends can place significant bandwidth and performance
demands on your WAN. Download this white paper to learn how
these trends will affect your network and how you can
proactively meet their needs.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=108526
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the WAN newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/frame/index.html
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FEATURED READER RESOURCE
THE ROI OF VOIP

When it comes to VoIP, most network managers are satisfied that
the technology works. But there are questions: What will the new
technology cost to roll out and support, and what benefits can
companies expect to reap? Check out NW's step-by-step guide on
how to determine the true cost and benefits of VoIP. Click here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/research/2005/071105-voip.html>
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