Technology Trends
The computer sciences professionals are required to be familiar with and stay abreast of current technology trends. Contemporary technology trends are always changing and new developments are constantly improving in data management, data quality, web service applications and software. One of the premier technology trends of 2007 is ensuring high-quality database management. Information on the latest technology trends can be found in this section as a series of tutorials and online training articles geared toward the Information Technology professional.
Spotting new technologies and obtaining immediate experience and knowledge of newly developed technologies can mean the difference between success and failure of a career in computer sciences. When a developer or programmer uses a new technology and becomes familiar with the most recent technology trends, he will have advantage over his colleagues. Technological innovation is at the forefront of career development in computer sciences.
Current technology trends include Software as a Service (SAAS), a mode of software delivery that provides maintenance, daily operation and software support through Web-based servers and browsers. Other hot trends in technology include Java technology trends, service oriented architecture advancements and the promise and foundation within Microsoft Window’s .NET framework for web services.
Advancements in Service Oriented Architecture Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an organized collection of services in communication with each other to perform specific functions. In the field of information technology (IT), a service is a discrete, self-contained bundle of information that is connected to other services. Introduction Web services, or technologies used to support connections, establish the connection and communication between services through standardized, data-organizing languages like XML. Communication between services supports an organization’s internal structure and how that structure interacts with external systems, hence the architectural aspect of SOAs. This communication is made user-friendly through the use of connection and…
Moving towards Service Oriented Architecture From 2006 to 2007 the major trend in information technology (IT) has been the shift from building infrastructure to service-based or Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). These trends emerge from a growing dissatisfaction with dated systems such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software. This article will discuss the current trends that see ERPs giving way to SOAs. Background Until recently, IT systems were dominated by a focus on infrastructure. IT infrastructure refers to the hardware and software that maintains and organizes information within an organization. These include an organization’s hardware, software, computerized…
The Promise and Foundation of .NET .NET provides a framework for web services used by Microsoft’s Windows, which is the standard operating system on the majority of personal and business computers. These web services include pre-existing IT (and specifically web services) protocols and technologies like XML (Extensible Markup Language), SOAP (Simple Object-Access Protocol), WSDL (Web Services Description Language) and the universal business directory UDDI (Universal Description, Discover and Integration). Introduction While .NET allows Microsoft to centralize the programming support for its web services, it is also a Microsoft business strategy providing users, both business and personal, with Web-based interfaces for…
Advancements in Web Service Applications Web services, also known as application services, describe the standardized integration of Web-based applications enabling communication between businesses and their clients. This communication is encoded and disseminated using certain core specifications. Introduction XMLs (Extensible Markup Languages) format the service request, usually in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), creating intelligible documents for the World Wide Web. SOAPs (Standard Object Access Protocol) establish the basic framework for transferring data. WDSLs (Web Services Description Language), which is an XML-formatted description of possible communication endpoints that can exchange messages. WDSL is required for mainstream object (or service) oriented languages such…
Technology Trends Involving Java Java is an object-oriented programming language (OOP) for Web browsers. It is organized around data rather than actions and supports polymorphism (which allows the same code to be written generically so it can function with different datatypes), inheritance (which allows one class to behave like another class, or category of objects, and to expand it operations to perform specific functions), and encapsulation (or the process of combining objects to create new entities). Introduction In OOP, the ‘object’, which includes both data and procedures, is an encapsulated data structure manipulated within a set of routines to carry…
Software as a Service (SAAS) Software as a service (SAAS) is at the forefront of technological trends in 2007. It refers to a mode of software delivery where maintenance, daily operation and software support is provided by the software company through Internet delivery of applications. Introduction SAAS delivery is defined by some fundamental characteristics. SAAS software must be able to access and manage commercial applications through a network-based connection. Software activity is managed at a central, remote location and allows customers access to applications through the Web. Application delivery is based on a one-to-many model that exponentially increases delivery capacity….
Trends in Data Quality and Management One of the biggest technological trends for 2007 is database management, specifically insuring data quality. Databases are a collection of pieces of information organized according to a schema. Schemas describe the information pieces in the database and the relationship between them. Database models include relational, hierarchical, and network models to organize relationships between data. This structure allows for programs to access databases and efficiently use information to perform functions, answer queries and otherwise process data. The software that performs this procedure is called the Database Management System (DBMS). DBMSs are usually organized according to…
Virtualization Virtual Servers and Virtual Storage Virtualization is one of the major software trends of 2007. This type of software allows multiple OSs (operating systems) to run side by side from a single server. Servers are computer systems that provide services to other systems or clients. All major vendors are emphasizing virtualization, including IBM, Intel, Microsoft and, especially, VMWare. Introduction Virtualization supports virtual operating systems, servers, storage, and network functions. It works in conjunction with autonomic computing, in which an organization’s IT manages itself according to perceived activity and utility. Clients pay for application use and processing power on an…
