VOLUME 16: Table of Contents

COVER STORY

Who Will Solve the BI Paradox?

The number of Business Intelligence tools is set to double by 2009. This is in sharp contrast to the promises given by BI itself. Now as part of an ongoing desire to have fewer suppliers and to be able to do more with less, IT departments are evaluating rationalising the number of vendors providing BI offerings. Standardisation, rationalisation and fragmentation are discussed in detail here.

INTERVIEW

Change is the Most Difficult Hurdle to Overcome!

Like any powerful technology, Grid computing can also be buried under a pile of marketing and hype. To add to the complexity, the concept itself is evolving as new technologies like virtualisation and SOA rise on the horizon. SDA Asia spoke to Bruce Moxon, Senior Director of Strategic Technology at Network Appliance, more popularly known as the ‘Grid Guy’, to clear the fog surrounding this exciting technology that has much more than just sheer computing power to offer.

ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE

Requirements for Enterprise Success

No matter how well-architected, well-constructed, or well-tested an application might be, it is essentially useless if it fails to meet (changing) business needs. Managing the requirements that govern the development of applications has long been a trouble spot in the application life cycle. Find out why enterprises still struggle when it comes to getting the requirements right and the importance of effective requirements defi nition.

WIRELESS & MOBILITY

Bringing Unified Communications to Fruition

Unifi ed Communications offers organisations the liberty to make communications reach desktop and handheld devices with the push of a button. Companies are now exploring the power of UC not just for quick turn around and profi ts but also for staying ahead of competition.

SPOTLIGHT

Rebirth of IT Consolidation

Individuals, organisations and big businesses are waking up to the benefi ts open source software. Economic principles and key terms apply to the individuals and companies in the open source market, just as it does in other spheres of business.

DEVELOPER FORUM

Debunking the Myths and Hype Surrounding AJAX

Is Ajax all about superfi cial cool effects and window dressing for your user interface? What is the real potential this exciting combination of technologies for the next generation Web?

Eclipse Does the AJAX Rap

A new initiative from the Foundation to support initiatives for Ajax applications and dynamic languages promises to position Eclipse as the standard for Ajax IDEs. The new projects provide innovative new Eclipse-based technology to be utilised by Ajax developers and developers using dynamic languages such as Python, Ruby, and Tcl.