Ash Parikh

In a recent article, CIO.com said that analytics and BI will be the top technology priorities for CIOs in 2012, based on a Gartner Inc. survey of IT executives. However, if you look back in time, reports show that BI was a top priority even then. Although we have fast-forwarded many years, the priorities haven't really changed. BI is still top of mind. Granted, the amount of data that needs to be processed is growing by the day, and the need for businesses to have timely insight into things that matter is becoming more immediate. But wasn't this the case earlier as well? Businesses have always had this mindset - hence the reason for growth and continuous innovation. What's new? Nothing, on the face of it. Except that with all things being equal, the fundamental problem, or shall I say problems, seem to have taken a backseat, yet again. We seem to keep talking about... (more)

Data Virtualization – The Quest for Agility

Yes, data virtualization is definitely about agility. We covered this from different angles in my previous article. Agility in this context is about accelerating the time-to-delivery of new critical data and reports that the business needs and trusts. It is also about an architecture that is flexible to changes in underlying data sources, without impacting the consuming applications. It's about doing data virtualization the right way so you can deliver new critical data and reports in days vs. months. However, what about productivity? A discussion around agility cannot and must ... (more)

Going Beyond Looking Under the Hood – Doing Data Virtualization Right

Given the speed at which organizations are conducting business today, the promise of increased agility is making "Data Virtualization" a hot topic. However, as with all things, the devil's in the details. We need to go a bit beyond simply looking under the hood. Yes, data virtualization is an agile data integration approach that provides fast and direct access to new critical data that the business can trust and consume. That's all well said and done. However, it's a loaded statement. Each word, in fact, needs to be put under a microscope to make sure that simple data federation... (more)

Data - SOA's Last Mile

According to Wikipedia, “The last mile (or last kilometer) is the final leg of delivering connectivity from a communications provider to a customer. Usually referred to by the telecommunications and cable television industries, it is typically seen as an expensive challenge because ‘fanning out’ wires and cables is a considerable physical undertaking.” The significant complexity, cost, and risk associated with this situation delayed many broadband rollouts until new technology became available that could realize the “last mile.” This powerful and real-world analogy from the worl... (more)

Extending Web Services to the Real World

This is the first in a series of articles that will explore the realm of Web services, the challenges that lie ahead, and advancements that enable extending Web services to the real world. Applications for real-world scenarios have significant dependencies on development time and ROI and must be robust, platform neutral, and performance sensitive. Most important, these scenarios need to be highly flexible to changes in requirements and applicability. Web services are an effective way to balance all these aspects of real-world applications and provide a rich and extensible infras... (more)