Tag Archives: Boundaryless Information Flow

by | April 4, 2013 · 4:33 AM

Thinking About Big Data

By Dave Lounsbury, The Open Group

“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”

- Albert Einstein

The growing consumerization of technology and convergence of technologies such as the “Internet of Things”, social networks and mobile devices are causing big changes for enterprises and the marketplace. They are also generating massive amounts of data related to behavior, environment, location, buying patterns and more.

Having massive amounts of data readily available is invaluable. More data means greater insight, which leads to more informed decision-making. So far, we are keeping ahead of this data by smarter analytics and improving the way we handle this data. The question is, how long can we keep up? The rate of data production is increasing; as an example, an IDC report[1] predicts that the production of data will increase 50X in the coming decade. To magnify this problem, there’s an accompanying explosion of data about the data – cataloging information, metadata, and the results of analytics are all data in themselves. At the same time, data scientists and engineers who can deal with such data are already a scarce commodity, and the number of such people is expected to grow only by 1.5X in the same period.

It isn’t hard to draw the curve. Turning data into actionable insight is going to be a challenge – data flow is accelerating at a faster rate than the available humans can absorb, and our databases and data analytic systems can only help so much.

Markets never leave gaps like this unfilled, and because of this we should expect to see a fundamental shift in the IT tools we use to deal with the growing tide of data. In order to solve the challenges of managing data with the volume, variety and velocities we expect, we will need to teach machines to do more of the analysis for us and help to make the best use of scarce human talents.

The Study of Machine Learning

Machine Learning, sometimes called “cognitive computing”[2] or “intelligent computing”, looks at the study of building computers with the capability to learn and perform tasks based on experience. Experience in this context includes looking at vast data sets, using multiple “senses” or types of media, recognizing patterns from past history or precedent, and extrapolating this information to reason about the problem at hand. An example of machine learning that is currently underway in the healthcare sector is medical decision aids that learn to predict therapies or to help with patient management, based on correlating a vast body of medical and drug experience data with the information about the patients under treatment

A well-known example of this is Watson, a machine learning system IBM unveiled a few years ago. While Watson is best known for winning Jeopardy, that was just the beginning. IBM has since built six Watsons to assist with their primary objective: to help health care professionals find answers to complex medical questions and help with patient management[3]. The sophistication of Watson is the reaction of all this data action that is going on. Watson of course isn’t the only example in this field, with others ranging from Apple’s Siri intelligent voice-operated assistant to DARPA’s SyNAPSE program[4].

Evolution of the Technological Landscape

As the consumerization of technology continues to grow and converge, our way of constructing business models and systems need to evolve as well. We need to let data drive the business process, and incorporate intelligent machines like Watson into our infrastructure to help us turn data into actionable results.

There is an opportunity for information technology and companies to help drive this forward. However, in order for us to properly teach computers how to learn, we first need to understand the environments in which they will be asked to learn in – Cloud, Big Data, etc. Ultimately, though, any full consideration of these problems will require a look at how machine learning can help us make decisions – machine learning systems may be the real platform in these areas.

The Open Group is already laying the foundation to help organizations take advantage of these convergent technologies with its new forum, Platform 3.0. The forum brings together a community of industry thought leaders to analyze the use of Cloud, Social, Mobile computing and Big Data, and describe the business benefits that enterprises can gain from them. We’ll also be looking at trends like these at our Philadelphia conference this summer.  Please join us in the discussion.

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by | March 1, 2013 · 10:17 AM

Welcome to Platform 3.0

By Dave Lounsbury, The Open Group

The space around us is forever changing.

As I write now, the planet’s molten core is in motion far beneath my feet, and way above my head, our atmosphere and the universe are in constant flux too.

Man also makes his own changes as well. Innovation in technology and business constantly create new ways to work together and create economic value.

Over the past few years, we have witnessed the birth, evolution and use of a number of such changes, each of which has the potential to fundamentally change the way we engage with one another. These include: Mobile, Social (both Social Networks and Social Enterprise), Big Data, the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing as well as devices and application architectures.

Now however, these once disparate forces are converging – united by the growing Consumerization of Technology and the resulting evolution in user behavior – to create new business models and system designs.

You can see evidence of this convergence of trends in the following key architectural shifts:

  • Exponential growth of data inside and outside organizations converging with end point usage in mobile devices, analytics, embedded technology and Cloud hosted environments
  • Speed of technology and business innovation is rapidly changing the focus from asset ownership to the usage of services, and the predication of more agile architecture models to be able to adapt to new technology change and offerings
  • New value networks resulting from the interaction and growth of the Internet of Things and multi-devices and connectivity targeting specific vertical industry sector needs
  • Performance and security implications involving cross technology platforms , cache and bandwidth strategies, existing across federated environments
  • Social behavior and market channel changes resulting in multiple ways to search and select IT and business services
  • Cross device and user-centric driven service design and mainstream use of online marketplace platforms for a growing range of services

The analyst community was the first to recognize and define this evolution in the technological landscape which we are calling Platform 3.0.

At Gartner’s Symposium conference, the keynote touched on the emergence of what it called a ‘Nexus of Forces,’ and warning that it would soon render existing Business Architectures “obsolete.”

However, for those organizations who could get it right, Gartner called the Nexus a “key differentiator of business and technology management” and recommended that “strategizing on how to take advantage of the Nexus should be a top priority for companies around the world.”[i]

Similarly, according to IDC Chief Analyst, Frank Gens, “Vendors’ ability (or inability) to compete on the 3rd Platform [Platform 3.0] right now — even at the risk of cannibalizing their own 2nd Platform franchises — will reorder leadership ranks within the IT market and, ultimately, every industry that uses IT.”[ii]

Of course, while organizations will be looking to make use of Platform 3.0 to create innovative new products and services, this will not be an easy transition for many. Significantly, there will be architectural issues and structural considerations to consider when using and combining these convergent technologies which will need to be overcome. Accomplishing this will in turn require cooperation among suppliers and users of these products and services.

That is why we’re excited to announce the formation of a new – as yet unnamed – forum, specifically designed to advance The Open Group vision of Boundaryless Information Flow™ by helping enterprises to take advantage of these convergent technologies. This will be accomplished by identifying a set of new platform capabilities, and architecting and standardizing an IT platform by which enterprises can reap the business benefits of Platform 3.0. It is our intention that these capabilities will enable enterprises to:

  • Process data “in the Cloud”
  • Integrate mobile devices with enterprise computing
  • Incorporate new sources of data, including social media and sensors in the Internet of Things
  • Manage and share data that has high volume, velocity, variety and distribution
  • Turn the data into usable information through correlation, fusion, analysis and visualization

The forum will bring together a community of industry experts and thought leaders whose purpose it will be to meet these goals, initiate and manage programs to support them, and promote the results. Owing to the nature of the forum it is expected that this forum will also leverage work underway in this area by The Open Group’s existing Cloud Work Group, and would coordinate with other forums for specific overlapping or cross-cutting activities.

Looking ahead, the first deliverables will analyze the use of Cloud, Social, Mobile Computing and Big Data, and describe the business benefits that enterprises can gain from them. The forum will then proceed to describe the new IT platform in the light of this analysis.

If this area is as exciting and important to you and your organization as it is to us, please join us in the discussion. We will use this blog and other communication channels of The Open Group to let you know how you can participate, and we’d of course welcome your comments and thoughts on this idea.

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by | July 14, 2011 · 5:23 AM

Announcing our new website: Building awareness of The Open Group’s standards and certifications

By Patricia Donovan, The Open Group

Those who have already visited The Open Group website today may have noticed it has a new appearance. And if you haven’t, please visit it now!

Yes; we’ve refined the design and encapsulated the information accumulated over the years into an easily digestible and navigatable site. But the real change is in the approach to how we use it as a business tool. In many ways, our new website is an extension of the mission we set for ourselves nearly 25 years ago: to drive the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow™ by giving people access to the information they need most, in the way they expect to find it.

You may recall that in 2010, we sent out surveys asking your opinions on what our members find to be important and what features and activities they value, as well as thoughts on compelling images, colors and other visuals. The new website, and some of the other communications you are now seeing from The Open Group, are a direct result of your input.

The new website is easier to scan, read and navigate, enabling visitors to find what they need quickly. Just as importantly, our key messages and value propositions are evident and clear. We are confident that our new web presence will improve The Open Group’s visibility and reputation as the global thought leader in the development of open, vendor-neutral standards and certifications — which will increase awareness for the valuable work done by the members who make up The Open Group Forums and Work Groups.

Additionally, the foundation has been laid to make the website a more agile, more interactive, Web 2.0 site — a tool that evolves organically, enables us to add features we were unable to offer previously, and allows us to meet your needs in real time.

I hope you will visit the new website at the same address, www.opengroup.org, and acquaint yourself with the new site. We’re quite proud of it, but we know there’s still work to do beyond today’s launch. In the coming months, we hope to continue improving the site so that it best serves you, our members.

In the meantime, please note some of the pages you may have previously bookmarked may no longer work and need to be bookmarked again; and for a time you’ll still be able to access material on our former site. Finally, please send any web feedback to webfeedback@opengroup.org.

Patricia Donovan is Vice President, Membership & Events, at The Open Group and a member of its executive management team. In this role she is involved in determining the company’s strategic direction and policy as well as the overall management of that business area. Patricia joined The Open Group in 1988 and has played a key role in the organization’s evolution, development and growth since then. She also oversees the company’s marketing, conferences and member meetings. She is based in the US.

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by | June 10, 2011 · 8:20 AM

Understanding security aspects of Cloud initiatives

By Stuart Boardman, Getronics; and Omkhar Arasaratnam, IBM

The Open Group recently published a whitepaper, An Architectural View Of Security For Cloud, which is the first in a series being produced by the Security For The Cloud and SOA project. In this whitepaper we introduce a method that helps organizations to model and therefore understand the security aspects of their Cloud initiatives.

Security is still often cited as the biggest concern about the Cloud. This topic was even raised during the recent survey by The Open Group on Cloud Computing. But does the concern reflect a genuine level of risk? If so, in what way and under what circumstances? It would be irresponsible not to take this seriously, but right now we’re suffering from a “here be dragons” mentality. Despite all the good work done by The Open Group, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and others, we still see far too much discussion of this kind: “The biggest single security threat in the Cloud is…” This helps no one, because these are generalizations and every organization’s situation is specific (This is borne out by other surveys, by the way). The result is FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and therefore stagnation. And as people lose patience with that, the reaction is sometimes the taking of inappropriate risks.

One of the challenges in understanding Cloud-based architectures is that each party, whether it is primarily a consumer or primarily a provider, is part of an ecosystem of different entities, providing and consuming Cloud services. The view of the architecture for each player may be different but each of them must take the entire ecosystem into account and not just its own part. When you couple this with the fact that there are so many possible types of Cloud service and delivery, and so many different kinds of data one might expose in the Cloud, it’s clear that there is no one generic model for Cloud. You need to understand the particular situation you are in or can foresee being in. That can be quite complex.

The Open Group’s Security for the Cloud and SOA project is developing a security reference architecture, which will help architects and security specialists to develop their view and understanding of their situations. Using the architecture and the associated method and combining this with the advice coming from other groups such as CSA or The Open Group Jericho Forum®, you can create a comprehensible view of a complex situation, determine risks, test your solution options and set up controls to manage all this in a production situation.

The fundamentals of our approach are architectural building blocks, security principles and a scenario-driven modeling method. We have defined a set of principles but also take into account identity principles from the CSA – and in the future, will work to combine all these effectively with the recently published Jericho Foundation Identity Commandments. Policy-driven security is for us a basic principle and itself is how most other principles are supported. By using the method to model responsibility for the building blocks, you can understand how policy is managed across the ecosystem and make an informed analysis of risks, mitigations and opportunities.

In the whitepaper, we illustrate the approach for the area of identity, entitlement and access management policy. We use a scenario involving one consumer organization and three SaaS providers supporting travel booking. We look at three situations which might apply depending on the capabilities and flexibility of the various parties. Here’s an example of how responsibility for the building blocks is distributed in one of these situations and how open standards can help to support that.

This happens to be the situation which best supports the principles we highlight in the whitepaper. In other situations you can see exactly how principles are compromised. That helps an organization weigh up risks and benefits. Take a look at the whitepaper and let us know what you think. We’re happy with any input we receive. More whitepapers will follow soon extending the method to other areas of security. Later on we’ll start building realizations that will, we hope, help to promote the use of open standards and bring us closer to Boundaryless Information Flow™. We’re also running an “architectural decisions rodeo” at The Open Group Conference, Austin (July 18-22) during which we will discuss and document key architectural decisions regarding Cloud security.

Omkhar Arasaratnam is a Certified Senior Security Architect with IBM. He is a member of the IBM Security Architecture Board, the IBM Cloud Computing Security Architecture Board, and co-leads The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group’s Security for the Cloud and SOA project. He is also actively involved in the International Standards Organization (ISO) JTC1/SC38 Study Group on Cloud Computing. Omkhar is also an accomplished author and technical editor of several IBM, John Wiley & Sons, and O’Reilly publications. He also has five pending patents in the field of information technology. Omkhar has worldwide responsibility for security architecture in some of IBM’s Cloud Computing services.

Stuart Boardman is a Senior Business Consultant with Getronics Consulting where he co-leads the Enterprise Architecture practice as well as the Cloud Computing solutions group. He is co-lead with Omkhar Arasaratnam of The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group’s Security for the Cloud and SOA project and a founding member of both The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group and The Open Group SOA Work Group. Stuart is the author of publications by the Information Security Platform (PvIB) in The Netherlands and of his previous employer, CGI. He is a frequent speaker at conferences on the topics of Cloud, SOA, and Identity.

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