VOSibilities

I expect that by now most everyone has seen the amazing film Wall-E in which a corporation called BNL — for “Big and Large” literally destroys Earth and emasculates humanity of its ability to survive on the planet.

Ryan Bagnulo of Aspect-i and I were talking about enterprises and their surprising tendency to remain with the status quo even when they should know better. And how that’s just fine with the big three — IBM, Oracle and SAP. Suddenly, Ryan said, “That’s kind of what happened in Wall-E!” At that point, I had to record the conversation for our listeners because it was so compelling a comparison.

That lead to this podcast in which Ryan and I discuss how IBM, SAP and Oracle are almost exactly like BNL and are quite content to let enterprises get so porked up on closed, proprietary application development software that they can’t get out of their chairs…to mix metaphors.

We hope you like the podcast, and as always, welcome your responses.

[After I posted this, I came across this broadside of SAP's pricing policies on Cnet. Need any more proof that these companies will suck the life out of enterprise application development buyers?]

 

 VOSibilities podcast #13: How IBM, SAP and Oracle could have been in "Wall-E" [7:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (41)

In this podcast episode, I talk with Active Endpoints’ CEO, Mark Taber, about our company’s vision for how we intend to “democratize” complex event processing (CEP) and stream processing so that everyone can benefit from these technologies in their applications.

Mark describes the concepts and then talks about why we believe these technologies should be part of every visual orchestration system — and previews what we’ll be delivering in ActiveVOS in our upcoming release in August, 2008.

As always, we appreciate your support of our podcast, as demonstrated by the large number of people who are downloading and subscribing to this content, and we welcome all feedback. Just email us at editor@vosibilities.com.

 

 VOSibilities podcast # 12: Complex event processing and visual orchestration systems [14:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (67)

I am very pleased to be able to post another fascinating talk from our own Kim Pease. This time, Kim makes clear a topic that we have repeatedly heard is on the minds of developers and managers alike: application security in a messaging environment. Kim pays special attention to all the WS-Security options and explains, among other things, why some authentication and encryption options are recommended in the WS-Security standards.

Normal application security is, ’scuse the ugly metaphor, a hairy ball of wax. But when you add in the additional requirements necessary to deal with a messaging-driven, services-based application environment, the complexity can overwhelm you. WS-I…SAML…WS-I…it can all become mush. Or, as least it seems this way until Kim clearly describes each part of the standard and then delivers a demonstration of the most important OASIS specifications in a demo.

Due to the depth of this topic, this podcast episode runs about 18 minutes. There are two versions posted here. The .avi format is encoded at 1024×768 and uses a standard DivX codec. The .m4v is formatted for the iPod at 640×480. The .m4v will play on the blog at half size (320×480), though it plays at full size on iTunes and on the iPod.

Based on the very good response to Kim’s last talk, I expect many of you will find it well worth the bandwidth to download either or both versions for reference at your leisure.

 

 VOSibilities podcast #11: Kim Pease on using WS-Security in services-based applications [19:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (141)
 VOSibilities podcast #11: Kim Pease on using WS-Security in services-based applications [19:48m]: Download (44)

We are pleased to present a recording of a joint webinar we presented on June 12, 2008 with XAware entitled How to Create and Orchestrate Services for Your SOA and Web 2.0 Applications.

Despite the imposing title, I think you will find the content — especially the lively Q&A at the end of the webinar — very interesting.

 

 VOSibilities podcast #10: Webinar replay - How to Create and Orchestrate Services for Your SOA and Web 2.0 Applications [80:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (278)
 VOSibilities podcast #10: Webinar replay - How to Create and Orchestrate Services for Your SOA and Web 2.0 Applications [80:19m]: Download (115)

We are pleased to post a recording of a webinar we presented this week. While the title of the webinar might make you think that this is only of interest to systems integrators, I think everyone will be interested in at least two sections of this podcast: the demo and the panel Q&A. The demo by our vp of marketing, Eric Egertson, begins at about 8:00 and the Q&A, with Eric, our systems engineer Victor Chan and me, begins at about 33:00 into the recording.

Many will find the entire webinar interesting as it contains an excellent overview of ActiveVOS and how it can allow users to create services-based applications, including BPM applications, all 100% based on open standards like BPEL.

We hope you enjoy this webinar and look forward to your feedback.

 

 VOSibilities podcast #9: Webinar replay - An Introduction to ActiveVOS for Systems Integrators [49:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (235)
 VOSibilities podcast #9: Webinar replay - An Introduction to ActiveVOS for Systems Integrators [49:12m]: Download (39)

For this episode of our podcast, I am very pleased to bring you a video recording made by our own Kim Pease in which she demonstrates ActiveVOS’s capabilities to interact with JMS queues. Kim gives a great overview of what you can do with ActiveVOS, but even more than that, the features she demonstrates make a very subtle but important point: orchestration developers don’t live in a 100% SOAP world.

Many of the services developers need to orchestrate are available via JMS and originate and terminate in common systems like MQ Series and JBoss. We believe it’s very important to be inclusive of these transports and to make sure they are able to participate in a first-class way with SOAP-transported services. In short, being “doctrinaire” about how services should communicate with the orchestration system only serves to impede developers who deal with heterogeneous systems as a daily matter of course. A good example of this pragmatism in ActiveVOS is at about 6:00 into the demo when Kim shows how ActiveVOS will automatically detect an incoming message’s format and reply in kind.

I want to thank you all for the feedback we’ve been receiving about this podcast series. We will continue to post a wide variety of content: demo vignettes (help me persuade Kim and our other engineers to burn the midnight oil to create more by downloading and viewing this episode like crazy), product information, audio podcasts and PDF content. Be sure to subscribe to this feed at http://www.vosibilities.com/category/podcast/feed or in iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=274122495.

You may have also noticed that when we have video for the feed, I try to post both a larger .avi and an iPod-formatted .m4v or .mp4. They are always the same content, but the .m4v is usually smaller because it’s reduced in resolution to fit iPods. Please feel free to download either or both. Also, as a convenience who visit the blog instead of subscribing to the podcast feed, the .m4v can be played in a Flash player on the blog just by clicking on the image.

 

 VOSibilities podcast #8- Kim Pease on using JMS with MQ Series and JBoss to orchestrate web services [9:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (258)
 VOSibilities podcast #8- Kim Pease on using JMS with MQ Series and JBoss to orchestrate web services [9:54m]: Download (56)

In our latest podcast episode, Mark Taber, CEO of Active Endpoints, discusses the relationship between BPEL and BPMN and why BPEL is the standards-based environment of choice for executing services-based applications. Mark also describes how BPMN can free users from the tyranny of proprietarty BPMS execution and, best of all, previews what Active Endpoints will be doing shortly in ActiveVOS to unite these two useful standards. Mark also discusses at a high level how we see the relationship between BPEL and BPMN and what we believe a visual orchestration system should enable users interested in these technologies to accomplish.

We hope you enjoy this podcast. We welcome feedback as a comment on the blog or via email to editor@activevos.com.

 

 VOSibilities podcast # 7: Mark Taber on BPMN and BPEL [9:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (100)

I’ve been waiting to post this video podcast episode for a couple of weeks because I wanted to understand better all the vitriol and confusion in the marketplace between BPMN promoters on one side and BPEL proponents on the other

No less an authority than Bruce Silver noted over two years ago “…that the world of BPMS is divided into BPEL-lovers and BPEL-haters…” And as soon as I arrived at Active Endpoints last January, I could really feel the tension…an internecine battle among people who believe in the same outcome and passionately hold that standards-based technology is ultimately the correct path for customers.

But at the end of the day, there are two inescapable facts. First, BPMN is not executable. BPEL is. Together, they are a more potent, winning combination for customers than peanut butter and jelly. I just can’t understand why BPMN promoters skip over this fact.

This BPMN-bigot blind-spot this allows Lombardi, SAP and others to claim ”support” for standards and yet execute the processes on a proprietary execution engine. Isn’t that the maximum possible deprecation of BPMN? Isn’t it a violation of the original intent of BPMN to run it on proprietary engines, ensuring customers lose agility and increasing their costs? Why don’t BPMN people just loathe that idea?

We do, and that’s the second inescapable fact: no modelling-direct-to-execution technology has ever succeeded. That’s why BPEL4People is so important (and why we are on the BPEL4People Technical Committee and have implemented the current capabilities of BPEL4People in ActiveVOS 5).

It’s really pretty simple (and here comes a mixed metaphor I can’t believe I’m posting): dolphins don’t talk but old dogs can be taught new tricks. Dolphins may actually be smarter than humans, but they don’t speak in words. BPMN may be great, but it won’t run “on the metal.” OTOH, BPEL can be extended with human activities that are first-class participants in a BPEL orchestration. That ole dog sure can hunt.

Bottom line: BPEL and BPMN together is what kumbaya sounds like for BPMS. And today’s podcast episode is a proof point: watch how Mark Ford shows an orchestration that includes human workflow as a first-class participant and which is 100% standards-based. (And watch for us to shortly say a whole lot more about ActiveVOS and BPMS.)

 

 VOSibilities podcast #6: Mark Ford on BPEL4People [2:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (250)

 

 VOSibilities podcast #6: Mark Ford on BPEL4People [2:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (32)

Whew…it’s been a busy week. We were at JavaOne, threw a great party (pix soon, I promise), met lots of people and got lots of great feedback.

Oh, and speaking of parties, we crashed SAPPHIRE in Orlando. Yes, it was we who dressed up actors in prison uniforms labelled “SAP County Jail” on the back and had the actors hand out ActiveVOS demo CD’s labelled “SAP Liberation Plan” and “Evidence” during SAP’s big user convention last week.

Why? In two words: public service. SAP bigots may think that’s an over-the-top characterization of what they will label as a PR stunt. But there is a method to our madness. We are convinced that SAP is pulling the wool over users’ eyes about BPM. And while we are realistic about our chances of liberating today’s SAP users, we feel compelled to reach out to them just in case they want a get-out-of-proprietary-BPM-jail plan.

What am I talking about? Consider this interview with an SAP architect who says:

SAP NetWeaver already provides capabilities to model and execute business processes that include both automated activities as well as human-executed activities. As the BPEL4People standardization progresses we will presumably see more and more compliant implementations.

Isn’t it clever to conflate NetWeaver — the most closed, proprietary BPMS on the planet — with BPEL4People? If you can just get a little of that standards-based branding onto your proprietary platform (especially in an press interview about standards), it may be enough to keep the prisoners in lock-down and maybe even bring a new busload or two inside the gates.

By “…we will presumably see more and more compliant implementations” I presume SAP was referring to the announcement last week of SAP’s plans for BPM, in which they purport to “usher in a new era” in BPM. The interview was published before the press release was issued, but if this is what she was referring to, it looks like NetWeaver users looking to free their business processes from proprietary stacks have just had their jail sentences unilaterally extended.

Consider three points. FIrst, there’s not a single standard mentioned in this press release. That’s not ushering in a new era. That’s 1980 all over again. Second, notice the repeated use of the phrase “the planned implementation.” This is all about some SAP NetWeaver product you can’t actually get until Q1 2009. Can you say, “freeze-dry the prisoners until we’re ready?” Third, I fell asleep during a demo of this at JavaOne in which the demoer couldn’t even get a PowerPoint to work.

‘Nuff said (for now). Be sure to watch the hilarious video of our “prisoners” being harassed in Orlando as they attempt to hand out CD’s to arriving guests. We didn’t go inside the hall. We didn’t interfere with anyone…but SAP set the security people on us anyway. Guess a little standards-based competition is too much for the self-proclaimed ushers of a new era.

 

 Video of Active Endpoints attempting to liberate SAP users at SAPPHIRE [2:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (313)

We are pleased to offer our first audio podcast. Until now, we’ve used our podcast feed to offer videos, webinar replays and news about Active Endpoints in PDF form.

Now, we are going to a more “classic” use of our podcast feed by providing audio interviews with the people inside Active Endpoints who are driving our product and market efforts. I hope to offer regular podcasts that span the gamut of topics: from marketing to technology with everything in between.

Enjoy this inaugural episode with Chris Keller, a founder of Active Endpoints, who I stuck in the “Wayback Machine” and asked a couple of tough historical questions. First, “Why BPEL”? And second, “What lead to the requirement for BPEL4People and WS-Human Task”?

 

 VOSibilities podcast #4: Chris Keller on Active Endpoints, BPEL and BPEL4People [14:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (132)

View a recording of the April 17, 2008 webinar BPEL Basics for Java Developers, presented by Active Endpoints’ Ron Romano and Alex Neihaus. This webinar was extraordinarily well-received and offers Java developers a conceptual introduction to SOA-based service orchestration using familar concepts.

There are two files in this post. The first file is formatted for an iPod and can be viewed here on the blog. Please be patient while the podcast downloads into the player. It is also available in our podcast feed (search on “vosibilities” in the iTunes Store to subscribe).

The second, a DivX-encoded AVI file, is significantly larger in size (@460MB) and can be downloaded for more comfortable viewing.

 

 VOSibilities podcast #3: BPEL Basics for Java Developers webinar April 17 2008 (iPod format) [91:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (613)
 VOSibilities podcast #3: BPEL Basics for Java Developers webinar April 17 2008 (DivX-encoded AVI) [91:49m]: Download (379)

 I’ve been saving this episode’s video for the release of ActiveVOS 5.0. In this podcast, Mike Pellegrini, our chief architect, white boards the revolutionary concepts behind the new scenario testing and remote debugging capabilities in ActiveVOS 5.0.

Now that we have shipped ActiveVOS 5.0, I think episode becomes much more powerful because you can actually request an evaluation and try this for yourself. I’ve seen demonstrations of these new capabilities and I can tell you that if I were working in a SOA or BPM environment, this is precisely what I would want. Testing message-based, loosely coupled applications made of up black boxes isn’t an easy thing to even think about, much less achieve.

Or at least it wasn’t until we shipped ActiveVOS 5.0. (Those of you reading this post on our blog can click the image above to see a screenshot of some of these amazing new features.)

We hope you enjoy Mike’s chalk-talk.

 

 VOSibilities podcast #2: Mike Pelligrini on scenario testing in SOA applications [4:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (321)

Today, we are very excited to announce ActiveVOS 5.0, the industry’s first visual orchestration system. You can read the details in the press release below. (And starting Wednesday, March 5, 2008, you can actually request a trial.)

As they say in the TV commercials, this changes everything about SOA. From capabilities, to pricing, to performance, to support for standards, ActiveVOS changes it all…for the better.

We hope you will become part of the revolution.

 Active Endpoints ships ActiveVOS 5.0: Download (247)

Our first podcast episode features our CEO, Mark Taber, detailing Active Endpoints’ vision for making possible the mass adoption of services-based applications. Mark touches on the problems facing developers and project teams who struggle with today’s overweight, expensive and hard-to-use tools. He also details how ActiveVOS is the most open and flexible solution to what has until now seemed like an intractable problem.

We hope you enjoy this podcast. If you have any comments or questions, please email us or leave a comment on the blog.

 

 VOSibilities podcast #1: Mark Taber on Visual Orchestration Systems [2:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (374)

Today, Active Endpoints announced availability of ActiveBPEL Community Edition Server 5.0. The community edition contains the first implementation of BPEL4People.

Also today, OASIS announced the formation of a technical committee focused on finalizing the BPEL4People specification. We are participating in this technical committee and look forward to BPEL4People once and for all eliminating proprietary workflow from enterprise applications.

You can read more about Community Edition in our press release, attached to this post.

 Active Endpoints announces milestone 1 of Community Edition with BPEL4People: Download (288)