Retrieving data demands both time and compute power of an application, and that demand can grow when data is housed in disparate data centers, as in a cloud or grid computing environment. Distributed data caches can make the data a little easier to find. A distributed data cache can act as an intermediary storage layer, holding frequently used data so that the application doesn’t have to constantly query multiple databases.

Distributed data caches are a relatively new development, but the notion of an intermediary storage layer is not. “Temporary spaces existed in the mainframe era, the client/server era and now in this Web based era. You’d see the same thought process but applied in different technologies,” said independent analyst Sandy Rogers. “Around the late nineties an industry developed around enterprise information integration (EII). Like a distributed data cache, it was virtual type of approach to data integration.”

These earlier intermediary storage layers, though, often had limited accessibility. “Depending on what domain users were processing in, they had to use technologies for that space,” said Rogers.

The key with a distributed data cache, however, is that it can make the data more accessible to multiple entities. While earlier data caches once were often coded into a program, widespread use of protocols and standards allow today’s distributed data caches to exist independently of any one application, instead letting multiple programs tap into its resources. As such, the data cache is no longer a feature of individual applications, but part of the data infrastructure.

Read more about distributed data caches in our Cloud Data Architecture Quick Guide

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Just finished reading Yes, “Enterprise Architecture Is Relative” BUT It Is Not Arbitrary”
and it was a nice article, but I politely disagree with Zman that “architecture is not arbitrary”.

Lock 10 architects in 10 separate rooms; provide them all an identical copy of the same business, technical, process, and system requirements; have them design an architecture under the same rules and perspectives; and I guarantee your result will be 10 different architectures of varying degrees. Maybe my opinion is biased because I come from a Software background, but I often think Enterprise Architecture is an Art that is trying to apply a Science. No 2 architectures are identical. No 2 interpretations of how an Architecture should look like are identical. No 2 Architects think alike. Often times, Architecture is the art of compromise because rarely will you get to 2 architects to agree on the final architecture. Compromise is really hard for us, because we are traditionally very stubborn people! I’ve met many an architect whose ego is bigger than the Internet, and thinks he could teach a thing or 2 to Socrates. We don’t like to be told we are wrong, especially when we develop a “work of art”.

Maybe a better statement can be “architecture tries to make the design non arbitrary”. With good architecture principles, patterns, frameworks, rules, constraints, standards, policies, procedures, and approach, the design becomes a simplistic exercise with little left to judgement, error, and becomes more a commoditized task. This is what I think architecture truly strives for– making everything downstream trivial. Architecture lays the foundation for the remaining pieces to snap in very easily without much variance. Success is when the blueprint is followed according to plan!

The article continues to articulate how industry standards have played a role in making architecture non-arbitrary. This makes sense in certain vertical industries cited in the article such as airplane manufacturing, nuclear power plants, developing the Space Shuttle. However, it doesn’t make sense in many commercial corporations whose architecture is centered and largely dependent on enterprise software .

Think about it– Building an airplanes for Boeing or a nuclear reactor has very strict standards, specifications, and processes with little to no variance. However, building software has tons of variance and therefore industry standards are rarely adopted religiously in software implementation (unless you are in some thees industries mentioned above). There are some very simple reasons for this dynamic:

• Qualifications for building software are low. Low barrier to entry, commoditized work force, easy to learn software programming skills.
• QA requirements are much lower. Often times, it’s “just enough QA” and many corners are cut and sacrificed so not to slow down the market plan.
• Time to Market patience is low. Software is expected to get deployed before its truly ready (and bugs are well known). Rapid is the name of the game, especially in today’s economy.

Ultimately, software does have great industry standards, but I’ve found most commercial companies use the industry standards as guidance, not a text book. They leverage it as a good starting point, but build their own internal standards and proprietary architecture. And, these internal standards are often arbitrary in nature.

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The pendulum swing toward lighter Web frameworks – sometimes called ‘implementations’ – probably will not swing in one direction infinitely.  Within the plethora of features that made the original Web application servers ‘fat’ are elements needed by some applications. Fat has its place.

Developer styles become an issue as one programming model starts to rule. The frameworks take away work from the developer, providing an added layer of abstraction and simplified means to address common chores. For some this is a boon – for others this is a bane.

It will be interesting to see where the OSGi component standard fits in with all this. It is meant to be modular. It is meant to adhere to the type of programming rigor we find in embedded systems design. But it has significant support for the popular Spring Web framework, too.

OSGi may represent a new development paradigm that can be approached from framework-friendly entry points (implementations), or ones that are more barebones interfaces. For Greg Wilkins, Founder and CTO of Webtide – which last year became part of Intalio – that is a good thing.

“These days, it is too easy not to program to interfaces but instead to implementations,” Wilkins said last week as part of a panel discussion at the open-source EclipseCon event .

“[Developers] got lazy and we tunneled too much to the implementation,” he said. “The OSGi module is going to be good to keep us from being lazy.”

Some people think OSGi is too hard. Some people think Web frameworks are too easy. As the old-time car advertisements used to say: “Your mileage may vary.”

Related story on OSGi
Enterprise OSGi spec rolls out at EclipseCon - SearchSOA.com

A new survey of 485 IT managers and professionals finds that the recent economic downturn has shifted priorities regarding SOA and a number of other initiatives. However, many are disenchanted with their enterprise applications, and few are confident that SOA, SaaS, or BPM can
handle everything that’s needed for the choppy waters ahead.

The survey, conducted by InformationWeek, finds that IT managers and professionals feel that ERP, CRM, and supply-chain management systems are still “costly and difficult to implement.” But, the survey also finds, “they also doubt that next-generation apps will be any easier to deal with.” Fifty-eight percent are concerned about either implementation issues or training challenges.

Most enterprises have yet to fully embrace service-oriented architecture, software as a service, or business process management, according to IW’s Doug Henschen, author of the report.

SOA doesn’t seem to be making it any easier to move to new functionality within enterprise settings. The challenge taking up the greatest mindshare is changing, upgrading, or optimizing existing enterprise applications, cited by 54% of respondents.

There is growing interest in cloud computing — the survey finds that 16% “already use cloud
computing infrastructure,” and 45% are considering cloud. 

The glum mood among enterprise IT professionals is not surprising, as they are charged with maintaining and improving massively complex systems with very tight budgets and resources. Plus, businesses, facing a hyper-competitive global market,  are only getting more demanding for IT and analytic capabilities.

Solutions such as SOA, cloud or BPM don’t offer overnight fixes — they are all evolutionary moves as IT seeks to keep up with the business and provide more flexibility.