3 Key Areas for Technology Development

E v e n t h o u g h w i t h o u t t h e I n t e r n e t , t h e am o u n t o f i n f o r m a t i o n a v a i l a b l e i n
m o s t c o r p o r a t e n e t w o r k s i s o ve r w h e l m i n g . F i n di n g w a y s t o a c c e s s d a t a
g e n e r a t e d b y d i f f e r e n t a p pl i c a t i o n s i n a m e an i n g f ul w a y i s g o i n g t o be
f o c u s e d f o r t h e I T i n d u s t r y . A s t h e i n d u s t r y w o r k s t o w a r d t h e n e x t g e ne r a t i o n
of IT tools, new technologies are emerging which will impact many IT industry
E v e n t h o u g h w i t h o u t t h e I n t e r n e t , t h e am o u n t o f i n f o r m a t i o n a v a i l a b l e i n
m o s t c o r p o r a t e n e t w o r k s i s o ve r w h e l m i n g . F i n di n g w a y s t o a c c e s s d a t a
g e n e r a t e d b y d i f f e r e n t a p pl i c a t i o n s i n a m e an i n g f ul w a y i s g o i n g t o be
f o c u s e d f o r t h e I T i n d u s t r y . A s t h e i n d u s t r y w o r k s t o w a r d t h e n e x t g e ne r a t i o n
of IT tools, new technologies are emerging which will impact many IT
i n d u s t r y . A s I T P r a c t i t i o n e r I b e l i e v e t h a t K e y f o c us a r e a s f o r t e c h n o l o g y
development are:

1 . G r i d C o m p u t i n g . A t o n e t i m e , D i s t r i b u t e d C o m p u t i n g m e a n t i n di v i d u a l
w o r k s t a t i o n s w e r e a b l e t o r u n t h e i r o w n a p p l i c a t i o n s w i t ho u t r e l i a n c e o n a
central server to supply them. Today, distributed computing implies grid
computing where the computational power of many computers can be
c o m b i n e d o v e r a n e t w o r k t o s o l v e a s i n g l e p r o b l e m o r t o s u p po r t a s i n g l e
a p p l i c a t i o n . G r i d c o m p u t i n g w o ul d a l l o w u t i l i z a t i o n o f i d l e e m p l o y e e d e s k t o p s
f o r c o m p u t e - i n t e n s i v e a p p l i c a t i o n s . A f am o u s e x a m pl e o f g r i d c o m p u t i n g i n
action is the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project. Anyone
c a n p a r t i c i p a t e b y d o w n l o a di n g a s c r e e n s a v e r t h a t u s e s i d l e t i m e t o pe r f o r m
c o m p u t a t i o n s t o a n a l y z e r a d i o t e l e s c o pe d a t a . D a t a i s s a v e d e v e r y f e w
minutes and is sent back to the SETI web site. Truly distributed computing
w i l l s u p p o r t a n i n f r a s t r u c t u r e w he r e p r o c e s s i n g po w e r i s no t o n l y s h a r e d , b u t
sensitive to fluctuation in demand for resources. This technology has already
begun to have ripple effects on business models in the IT industry today.

2. Web-Enabling of IT Applications . Web services are tools and protocols

which allow different applications to communicate, share data, or issue
commands with one another over the Internet. This can be accomplished with
o t h e r i n t e r n a l a p p l i c a t i o n s , b u t o ne a d v a n t a g e o f w e b s e r v i c e s i s t h a t i t r e l i e s
o n a s i n gl e s t a n d a r d — b a s i c a l l y X M L . E x t e n s i bl e M a r k u p L a n g u a g e ( X M L )
enables the definition, transmission, validation, and interpretation of data
between applications and between organizations. In theory, this could greatly
e a s e i n t e g r a t i o n c h al l e n g e s . E f f o r t s t o i n t e g r a t e di f f e r e n t I n t e r n e t p r o t o c o l s
t o c r e a t e w e b - b a s e d a p p l i c a t i o n s f o r m o r e c o m p l e x b us i n e s s f u n c t i o n s a r e a
f o c u s f o r t h e I T i n d u s t r y . A s a r e s ul t , n e w s t a n d a r d i z a t i o n t o o l s , a n d
development platforms are emerging. Sun Microsystems's J2EE and
Microsoft's .NET are currently the two main development platforms for web
s e r v i c e s . A p pl i c a t i o n s b u i l t i n t h e s e s o f t w a r e a r c h i t e c t u r e s c a n r u n o n p r i v a t e
i n t r a n e t s a s w e l l a s p u b l i c I n t e r n e t s i t e s . W h i l e t h e r e a r e t e c h no l o g y i s s u e s ,
s u c h a s s e c u r i t y , w h i c h a r e s t i l l t o b e r e s o l v e d, t h e de v e l o p m e n t o f w e b -
services for IT applications is increasing. Likelihood both .NET and J2EE will
c o - e x i s t a s d e ve l o pm e n t p l a t f o r m s .

3. Integrating Mobile Devices and Wireless Technologies with IT

i n f r a s t r u c t u r e s . A s t h e f u n c t i o n al i t y o f m o b i l e d e v i c e s i n c r e a s e s , t h e
p o t e n t i a l f o r w i r e l e s s a c c e s s t o d a t a c r e a t e s n um e r o u s o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r t h e
enhancement of business performance and productivity. Personal Digital
A s s i s t a n t s ( P D A s ) , f o r e x a m pl e , w e r e c o n s i d e r e d a p e r s o n a l , t i m e -
m a n a g e m e n t t o o l . T o d a y , t h e s e c o m p a c t , m o bi l e c o m p u t e r s a r e f i n d i n g t h e i r
way into business applications. They are being used by sales representatives
to gather customer information which can then be added to a central
c u s t o m e r d a t a b a s e . A d v a n c e s i n w i r e l e s s n e t w o r k i n g al s o m a k e i t p o s s i bl e f o r
t h e s e s a m e s a l e s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s t o a c c e s s i n f o r m a t i o n a bo u t t h e p r o s p e c t i v e
customer from the corporate database in real time.
Distributed computing, wireless networks , and web-enabled IT
a p p l i c a t i o n s a r e t h r e e f o c u s a r e a s f o r I T de v e l o p m e n t t o d a y . T h e s e a r e
b y n o m e a n s a l l - i n c l u s i v e b u t w i l l h e l p y o u c o n s t r u c t a n i n i t i al f r a m e w o r k
w i t h i n w h i c h t o e v al u a t e a d v a n c e s t o c o m e .

Written By: Jimmy Ardiansyah, MS-IT.

References:  Stefano, Michael Di. Distribured Data Management for Grid Computing. Wiley,
2004. Harold, Elliotte Rusty. XML Bible. 2. Hungry Minds, 2001.  "SETI." University of
California at Barkeley. 2 Oct 2006 < http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ >.