Transcript NorthStar Architectural Overview

LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Session 27 (IT)
Choosing Application
Tools
“Using the right tool
for the job”
Presented by Rob DiMurro
VP, Research and Development
Harris Computer Systems
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Introduction

Robert DiMurro
 Currently VP of R&D for Harris Computer Systems
 Prior experience
 Director of R&D for Geac Computers, LTD
 Director of R&D for Software Shop Systems
 17 years of R&D management experience
 Directed the design and development of numerous
business applications
 Experienced with in-house & outsourced application development
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Introduction
 Servicing public power and local government
since 1976
 Leading provider of Utility Billing, Customer
Information Systems (CIS) and Financial
Management software solutions
 30 years, 3000 Customers, 350 Employees
 Endorsed by
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Background
 In 2002 Harris committed to rewriting a core utility
utility billing product in use by over 150 customers
 Business requirements were established and
diligence was undertaken to select an application
tool set
 Harris selected Java technologies utilizing J2EE
 Review business idea, criteria and decision factors
that lead to J2EE selection
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
“Use the right tool for the job”
A common sense expression, but how do you
determine what the right tool is?
Start by answering this question:
What are the business requirements?
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Business Requirements
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Business requirements are essential to
“project success”
The technical approach revolves around the
business requirements
The application tools are governed by the
technical approach and the business
requirements
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Technology must support business requirements
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Choosing application tool is as much a
business decision as it is a technical
decision
Tool selection must incorporate and
support business objectives
“no longer one size fits all”
“no application is an island, the need to
interoperate is common”
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
What are the Business requirements?
Questions?
“Business requirements specify
what the business wants”
“Usually expressed in terms of
broad outcomes the business
requires, rather than specific
functions the system may
perform.”
Is this core development or core
business offering?
Is the scope large or enterprise
wide?
Is there a high level of integration?
Is the a high level of security?
Is this customer facing?
requirements
drive technical
approach / tool
selection
Is this web facing?
(examples)
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Project Considerations
Overall Costs
Resource Requirements
Current Platforms & Tools
Speed to Market
Future Plans for Growth
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Overall Costs
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Development costs
– Internal
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•
•
•
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Implementation costs
–
–
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Development Tools / Infrastructure
Developer Training
Documentation
Project Management
Hardware
• Servers / Clients
rd
3 Party Licenses
• Operating System
• Database
• Other
Ongoing costs
–
–
Maintenance
Support
Total Cost of
Ownership
(TCO)
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Resource Requirements
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Skill sets of current staff
–
–
–
–
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R&D / IT staff
Implementation staff
Maintenance staff
Long-term Support staff
External resources
– Local skilled workforce availability
– Local skilled contractor availability
– Vendor qualification / reputation

Training availability & requirements
Resource
Requirements
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Current Platforms & Tools
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Existing Hardware
– Internal Servers
– External - Client systems
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Existing Software
– Operating systems
– Databases
– Reporting Tools
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Interoperability
– Existing internal
applications
– Existing 3rd Party
application integration
and B2B
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Data
Current
Platforms & Tools
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Speed to Market
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Scope of system
Timeline requirements
Dependencies
Developer training
Ongoing operations
Data conversions
Integration with 3rd party
systems
– Integration with internal
systems
– Quality Assurance testing
–
–
–
–
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Implementation
– Data conversion/Entry
– End-user training
– Go Live
Speed to Market
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Future Plans for Growth
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Growth
–
–
–
–
–
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Business
Product/Service offerings
Data needs
User needs
Management needs / preference
IT Strategy & Investment
– OS & DB platforms
– Hardware / Network
– Software / Security

Industry trends
Future Plans
For Growth
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
What tools are available?
“Java and Microsoft have become the only
two mainstream IT platforms”
“80% of medium to large enterprises
will be using Java or .Net”
Gartner, Strategic Analysis Report
September 2002
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
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Standards based - Open, community defined
(JCP)
Various vendor implementations available
(Commercial and Open source)
Various 3rd part support products available
(components, API extensions, etc.)
Developer environment: Various IDE’s
available (Commercial and Open source)
Platform Independence
Database Independence
Supports web browser and GUI interfaces
Designed for business systems
Interoperability
“Write once, run anywhere” (WORA)
J2EE is an open standard supported and
developed by several industry leaders
under the Java Community Process (JCP).
The J2EE specification is available on the
net as JSR-244
Java Community Process (JCP)
Expert Group members:
SAP, INRIA, Novell, TmaxSoft, BEA,
SeeBeyond Technology Corporation,
Hewlett-Packard, Sybase, Inc., Orcale
Corporation, IBM, The Apache Software
Foundation, Borland Software Corp,
E.piphany, Intel Corporation, Cap Gemini,
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Pramati
Technologies, JBoss, Inc, Ironflare AB,
Trifork
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Microsoft .NET Technology
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Standards based – Partially open, some standards controlled by
Microsoft
Single vendor implementation (Currently Microsoft has the only
complete implementation – Open Source developments coming)
Various 3rd party support products available (components, API
extensions, etc.)
Developer environment: Visual Studio
Platform dependant, Windows based (an open source project in
development for Linux - Mono)
Database independent
Supports web browser and GUI interfaces
Designed for business systems
Interoperability
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Harris Case Study
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In 2002 Harris committed to redeveloping our core CIS/Utility
Billing software.
We determined our business requirements and evaluated tools
based on those requirements.
We concluded, that for our needs, J2EE and Open source
software offered the best fit for redeveloping our CIS/Utility
Billing software.
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Original Business Idea
““redevelopment of Flag Ship CIS product to address
technology and user interface issues to improve new
name sales and protect customer investment”
New Product /
Existing
Customers
New Product /
New Customers
Existing Product / Existing Product /
New Customers
Existing
Customers
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
High Level Technical Description
Technology Assessment and Development
Leading Technology but
Lagging Functionality
Leading Technology and
Functionality
NorthStar
v6.0
Technology Rating (1-5)
5
4
v5.2
3
Lagging Technology and
Lagging Functionality
2
Lagging Technology
Leading Functionality
1
1
2
3
4
Functionality Rating (1-5)
5
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Drivers for Business Requirements
KEY ASSESSMENT AREAS
 Functional Fit
 Technical Fit
 Ease of Use
 Business Metrics
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Functional Fit
Compliance with RFP
100%
95%
90%
Decision Point
85%
80%
v5.2
Direct Comp.
75%
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Technical Fit
Windows / SQL preference
Compliance with RFP
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
v5.2
75%
Direct Comp.
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Ease of Use
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
PUBS v5.2
75%
Direct Comp.
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
High-level Business Requirements
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Major CIS Rewrite
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New User Interface
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Platform independent
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Strong Interoperability
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Minimize TCO for clients
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Foundation for R&D
Technology
Advancement
Enhanced
Usability
Competitive
Advantage
Ease of
Use
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
J2EE and Open Source vs .NET
Overall Costs
No clear winner for these items
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Development Infrastructure (Servers, developer PC’s)
Documentation
Project Management
Implementation Hardware
3rd Party licenses
Database licenses
Maintenance costs
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
J2EE and Open Source vs .NET
Overall Costs
Winner - J2EE and Open source
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Development tools (Open source, free)
Developer training (knowledge in house)
 Development Shop
 Developer licensing
Total Cost of
Ownership
(TCO)
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
J2EE and Open Source vs .NET
Resource Requirements
No winner for these items
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Skill sets of current staff
– IT Staff
– Implementation staff
– Maintenance staff
– Long-term Support staff
Resource
Requirements
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
J2EE and Open Source vs .NET
Resource Requirements
Clear Winner – J2EE and Open Source

Skill sets of current staff
– R&D staff
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External Resources
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–
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Local skilled workforce availability
Local skilled contractor availability
Training Availability
Resource
Requirements
Note: In today's job market, there would be no clear winner
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
J2EE and Open Source vs .NET
Current Platforms & Tools
No winner for these items
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Existing Hardware
– Internal Servers
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Existing Software
– Databases
– Reporting Tools
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Interoperability
– Existing internal applications
– Existing 3rd Party application integration and B2B

Data
Current
Platforms & Tools
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
J2EE and Open Source vs .NET
Current Platforms & Tools
Winner – J2EE and Open Source
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Existing Hardware
– External – Client Systems
• Switching costs
• Many customers using non-Intel based servers)
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Existing Software
– External – Client Operating systems
• Switching costs
• Customer base using Unix/Linux for servers
• Trend moving to move to Windows / SQL
Current
Platforms & Tools
Note: .NET would not have incurred any additional
cost to Harris in terms of Hardware or Software
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
J2EE and Open Source vs .NET
Speed to Market
No clear winner in this category
No measurable advantage for any technologies evaluated
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Scope of system
Development timeline
Dependencies
–
–
–
–
–
–
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Developer training
Ongoing operations
Data conversions
Integration with 3rd party systems
Integration with internal systems
Quality Assurance testing
Implementation
–
–
–
Data conversion/Entry
End-user training
Go Live
Speed to Market
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
J2EE and Open Source vs .NET
Future Plans for Growth
No clear winner in this category

Growth
–
–
–
–
–

IT Strategy & Investment
–
–
–

Business
Product/Service offerings
Data needs
User needs
Management needs / preference
OS & DB platforms
Hardware / Network
Software / Security
Industry trends
Future Plans
For Growth
Note: J2EE’s ability to run on any OS platform was
viewed positively for future sales, but not a defined
requirement.
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Technology Platform

Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
J2EE provides the framework and
infrastructure for enterprise solutions
“Java and Microsoft have become the only
two mainstream IT platforms”
“80% of medium to large enterprises
will be using Java or .Net”
Gartner, Strategic Analysis Report
September 2002
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
The NorthStar Solution
Tier 1 - Thin
Clients
IVR System
Intranet Server
Web clients
(HTML)
Windows client
(Java)
Unix client
(Java)
Fax Gateway
Email Server
3rd Party
(XML/SOAP)
Others
(EIS/Batch/
Maint./.etc)
Various Gateway Systems
Ethernet
Tier 2 - Data
Abstraction &
Business Logic
RMI/IIOP/HTTP
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J2EE Application Server
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Application Services
EJB (entity and session for
business logic and database
access)
Database Connection Pooling
Web applications (JSP/Servlets)
XML/SOAP
SSL
RMI/IIOP CORBA
Access Control
Hot deployment
Clustering
HTTP (XML/SOAP)/SSL/SMTP/IIOP
Internet/Wireline/Wireless Networks
Alternative UI
Systems (wireless, etc.).
for Customers and/or
Utility workers
JDBC/ODBC/DB Native Drivers
Ethernet
Tier 3 Database
Customer
WWW/Email
Informix/Oracle/
SQL Server
Legacy
Database
Systems
WAP/SMPP/MMS
JMxE apps
(Utility Meter Apps)
GSM/UMTS
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Old
Before
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
After
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Tools and Platform Overview
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Developer Tools
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CVS (Open source)
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MS Office – user documentation, system documentation
JavaDoc – code documentation (part of Java language tools, free)
Robohelp – online-help documentation
Version Control
Documentation
JBoss v3.12 and v4 (Open source)
Apache Tomcat (Open source)
Internet Information Server (IIS) – add on products (eCARE, mCARE, EIS, OMS)
Databases
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Eclipse IDE (Open Source)
NetBeans IDE (Open Source)
Internally developed code generators
Web Servers
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J2EE Application Server
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Java programming language (free)
Integrated Development Environments (IDE’s)
Informix, Oracle, MS SQL Server
Operating Systems
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Windows XP Pro, Linux, Unix
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
J2EE and Open Source software reduce
costs for NorthStar customers
NorthStar v6 (external software costs**)
 J2EE Application Server
– JBoss 3.2.3 and JBoss 4.0
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Java Run-time
– Java 1.4.2 and Java 1.5
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Cost: $0
Web Server
– Apache Tomcat
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Cost: $0
Cost: $0
Server Operating Systems:
– Linux (open source and commercial)
– Unix
– MS Windows XP Pro
Cost: $0 - $100*+
Cost: $100*+
Cost: $150*+
*- Actual costs will vary - bulk purchase pricing may be available, external vendors responsible for pricing, chosen platform, number of licenses required, etc.
**- External software costs are costs incurred due to the chosen development platform, not the cost of the product itself, its services or its support.
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Sample Configuration
25 users
NorthStar v6 Minimum cost (external software costs**):
NorthStar Required Software licensing:
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J2EE App Server:
–
JBoss 4.0
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Web Server:
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Java Run-time:
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Operating System:
–
–
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$0
Apache Tomcat
$0
Java 1.5
$0
Linux (Open-source, net d/l)
$0
---
$0 (cost incurred by customer due to dev tools)
NorthStar Required Hardware and Database software:
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1 Server (hosting JBoss, Tomcat and Database):
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Dual 3.0Ghz, 4 GB RAM
$3000*
Database:
–
Informix SE (25 licenses)
$6250*
Minimum customer cost of ownership : $9250*
*- Actual costs will vary - bulk purchase pricing may be available, external vendors responsible for pricing, chosen platform, number of licenses required, etc.
**- External software costs are costs incurred due to the chosen development platform, not the cost of the product itself, its services or its support.
LONG TERM SOLUTIONS. LONG TERM CUSTOMERS.
Summary
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Business requirements drive application tool selection
.NET & Java are only two mainstream IT platforms for
application development – both are strong solutions and
widely utilized
Many considerations for application tool selection –
business drivers, technical drivers, existing components
Diligence should be based on scope of project and impact
to overall business
Harris’ selection to utilize Java (J2EE) was based largely
on multi-platform support, TCO for our clients, and
availability of a local skilled workforce