this excellent series of articles (2 out of 3) provides the definition, background, inner workings and forecast of Mashups and Enterprise SOA.
Part I includes:
- definition: “a user-centric micro-combination of standards-based internal and external data sources.”
- common characteristics:
- Collaborative - designed to be tagged/searchable/shared with others. User tagging, often called a 'folksonomy', helps users put meaning for themselves and others.
- Focused on the 'pack' - created, used, and shared among a small number of related individuals. Knowledge workers collaborate in small packs. Although they may be part of a larger group, they usually function as small teams when it comes to discrete information needs.
- Time-sensitive - Users need data now. Mashups usually have near real-time delivery requirements. They don't have time to wait for IT to "pre-integrate" data so they can get at it. The Web is real-time and business users have evolved to expect the same inside their enterprises.
- Non-invasive - There's no need to bring in a whole new set of infrastructure, as enterprise mashups run inside the current enterprise stack. This includes both mashup sources (databases, SOA services, etc.) and mashup destinations (portals, blogs, wikis, email, spreadsheets, etc.).
- Limited cleansing - The amount of data cleansing and normalization needed should be comparable to the amount of cleansing and normalization a user does in Excel. If there's more, you have a bigger problem that should be addressed concurrently with your mashup initiative.
- Have a face - Mashups usually have a face and the face is a widget. Just like mashups are "micro", so are the applications that front-end them. If the user is the recipient of the mashup, it's only natural for the user to be given a way to interact with the data.
- comparison w/ BPM, BI, EII and ESB
- use cases for Mashups
- architecture of Mashups
- the role of IT
- bottom line
- faster answers
- improved resource use
- new opportunities
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1326602
Part II includes:
- Why SOA architects should care…
- Mashups: delivering SOA to your users
- information right-sizing
- publishing and syndication
- Mashup-to-SOA publishing
- service virtualization
- inside-outside combinations
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1326603
Part III: coming soon from Chris Warner
