Web Services, Service-Oriented Architectures, and Cloud Computing

The Savvy Manager's Guide

Douglas K. Barry

• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780124072008
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Systems Architecture
• Index: Computer Science

Web Services, Service-Oriented Architectures, and Cloud Computing is a jargon-free, highly illustrated explanation of how to leverage the rapidly multiplying services available on the Internet. The future of business will depend on software agents, mobile devices, public and private clouds, big data, and other highly connected technology. IT professionals will need to evaluate and combine online services into service-oriented architectures (SOA), often depending on Web services and cloud computing. This can mean a fundamental shift away from custom software and towards a more nimble use of semantic vocabularies, middle-tier systems, adapters and other standardizing aspects.

This book is a guide for the savvy manager who wants to capitalize on this technological revolution. It begins with a high-level example of how an average person might interact with a service-oriented architecture, and progresses to more detail, discussing technical forces driving adoption and how to manage technology, culture and personnel issues that can arise during adoption. An extensive reference section provides quick access to commonly used terms and concepts.

• Broad, non-technical explanation of a technical topic for managers at all levels
• Only web services book to cover data management and software engineering perspectives; excellent resource for all members of IT teams
• Provides a set of leadership principles and suggested applications for using this technology

PART I

Overview of Web Services, Service-Oriented Architecture, and Cloud Computing

The first part of this book begins with a story that illustrates how a service-oriented architecture using Web services with cloud computing might be used for planning and taking a business trip in the not-too-distant future. The chapter following the story outlines a high-level explanation of the technology and related standards involved in this trip. That leads to the introduction of Web services and service-oriented architectures in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 ends this part with an overview of cloud computing.

Chapter 1

A Business Trip in the Not-Too-Distant Future

This is a story of a business trip in the not-too-distant future. It illustrates how a business traveler relies on service-oriented architectures. Those service-oriented architectures use Web services along with cloud computing.

The term Web services can be confusing. It is often used in different ways. Compounding this confusion is the term services, which has a different meaning than Web services.

In this book, Web services is defined as a means to connect services together. A service is software that performs some computing function and has some type of underlying computer system. Although not required, cloud computing may provide that underlying computer system.

The assembly of services—internal and external to an organization—makes up a service-oriented architecture (SOA). This is yet another confusing term, since SOA is a design and development style rather than an actual architecture. Nevertheless, the result of that development is commonly referred to as an architecture.

The Business Trip

This is the story of C. R., which is short for Connected Representative. In this story, C. R. is about to take a business trip to Europe. This trip is much like any business trip in that it will involve visiting multiple customers in different cities over three or four days and responding to routine tasks from the office. At one time, C. R. carried a cell phone and a laptop on business trips. Nowadays, C. R. carries just a smartphone. On this trip, C. R. will also wear his regular eyeglasses that are augmented with a heads-up display, an earpiece, and a camera. The eyeglasses communicate with his smartphone.

To start planning his trip, C. R. uses a smartphone application that is part of his virtual personal assistant (VPA). He asks the VPA to find all customers near each stop in his trip and to rank them based on criteria from his organization’s business intelligence (BI)/analytics system. Although there are specific customers he wants to visit, he also wants to make sure he is keeping in touch with as many customers as he can. Using the list provided by the VPA, C. R. identifies the customers he might see and makes minor changes in the ranking of customers for arranging meetings. He adds the dates for when he wants to leave and return. Then he asks the VPA to arrange meetings. The VPA sends the meeting invitations. Some invitations are by email and others use C. R.’s social network account; the VPA determines the best way to contact the customers.

Within a few minutes of sending the meeting invitations, one of C. R.’s customers confirms the invitation and asks if he is available for dinner. C. R. accepts the invitation. The VPA updates the travel itinerary and calendar. The VPA will keep C. R. informed of any changes that might occur throughout the trip.

Let’s depart from this story here for a moment. There are two components to C. R.’s VPA. One component is on his smartphone, which has already been mentioned. Another component exists in the public cloud. This means C. R. can access his VPA using other devices (e.g., someone else’s phone or a desktop) should he desire. It also allows the VPA to help manage his life even if C. R.’s smartphone is turned off or unreachable. Many of the travel arrangements described here are handled by the VPA component in the public cloud.

As the day progresses, C. R. receives additional messages. The VPA uses the messages to update C. R.’s calendar. Within a few hours, the VPA delivers information about his flights, transportation arrangements, and hotel reservations in three cities. C. R. opens his calendar on his smartphone to check his itinerary. The arrangements are fine and he confirms the plans. At this point, his manager receives an itinerary of C. R.’s trip on her calendar that includes the departure and return trips along with hotels where C. R. will be staying. Her VPA alerts her of the update along with a list of assignments C. R. is supposed to complete in the near term. This list prompts her to send a message reminding C. R. to review several documents in the documentation repository in his organization’s virtual private cloud. C. R. will browse these documents sometime during his trip. C. R.’s spouse also receives updates to her personal calendar that include the departure and return trips along with hotels where C. R. will be staying and hotel phone numbers inserted in the appropriate days. This is something she likes to have handy when C. R. is traveling. Her VPA did not alert her of the change since it knows this type of calendar update from C. R. is not something requiring a notification to C. R.’s spouse.

The itinerary created by the VPA includes links to information about the customers to be visited (including addresses). C. R.’s VPA ensures the address information is stored locally on his smartphone. The global positioning system (GPS) on his smartphone uses these addresses while C. R. is driving.

The VPA takes advantage of application programming interfaces (APIs) that use standard semantic vocabularies (the data and the names to use when describing the data). Airlines, hotel chains, car rental companies, restaurant reservation systems, calendaring systems, and many other services on the Internet have agreed to use standard semantic vocabularies. Recently, C. R.’s organization added similar APIs to the repository it maintains in its virtual private cloud so that employees’ VPAs can interact with the repository.

The morning that C. R. is to depart, his smartphone awakens him two hours early (C. R. uses the alarm clock feature of his phone and his VPA knows when he expects to get up). The reason for waking C. R. early is that there is a serious accident with a chemical spill on the direct route C. R. would normally take to the airport. The VPA recognized that C. R. is going to need more time to get to the airport. Once in his car, the VPA suggests an alternate route. This is based on the traffic information provided as a service by the local department of transportation (DOT). The DOT service tries to make the most efficient use of the routes around the airport, given that the chemical spill will take many hours to clean up. To route traffic, the DOT service uses information provided by thousands of VPAs, the clients of which will be traveling to or near the airport. The VPAs and the DOT service negotiate travel routes that the VPAs then suggest as alternate travel routes to their clients (like C. R.).

Thanks to C. R.’s VPA, he arrives at the airport, in time to check in his baggage, pass through security, and eat lunch before boarding his flight.

The first stop on his trip is Bonn, Germany. As C. R.’s plane approaches the gate at the Cologne Bonn Airport, the VPA recognizes it by the geolocation and also determines that this is C. R.’s first visit to this airport. So, the VPA prepares to provide C. R. with help to navigate through the airport. As C. R. departs the plane, the VPA uses the arrival gate information from the airline service and a map of the airport to tell C. R. via his earpiece how to walk to customs. Once through customs, the VPA guides C. R. to baggage and then to a car. On the way, VPA checks C. R. in with his car rental service and C. R.’s phone receives details about where he can pick up his rental car.

At the parking garage, C. R.’s VPA displays the stall number and car license number on the heads-up display of C. R.’s eyeglasses. When leaving the garage, the security guard scans a code on C. R.’s smartphone and his driver’s license to confirm authorization to leave with the rental car. C. R. will not have trouble navigating to his appointments because his glasses and smartphone provide a voice-activated personal navigation system with turn-by-turn guidance, voice instructions, and real-time traffic reports. C. R.’s VPA filters the traffic reports so that C. R. only hears what the VPA “knows” he will consider useful. The VPA has chosen a hotel in the heart of Bonn where C. R. will stay the evening, and it is located near a restaurant that the VPA also “knows” C. R. will like.

While driving, C. R.’s VPA reports a significant problem that a customer is having with one of the products from C. R.’s organization. This is good to know before going into his first meeting. C. R. asks his VPA to collect recent information about this customer and the problem with the product. Once C. R. is in his room, the VPA reminds him that the information he requested is now available from both the customer relationship management (CRM) service that resides in the public cloud and the organization’s repository in its virtual private cloud. C. R. also calls the representative assigned to the problem to ask for any additional information before tom...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Introduction
• PART I. Overview of Web Services, Service-Oriented Architecture, and Cloud Computing
• PART II. Technical Forces Driving the Adoption of Web Services, Service-Oriented Architectures, and Cloud Computing
• PART III. Managing Change Needed for Web Services, Service-Oriented Architectures, and Cloud Computing
• PART IV. Getting Started with Web Services, Service-Oriented Architectures, and Cloud Computing
• PART V. Reference Guide
• Index