If it is true, as Santayana said, that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, then vendors in the computing and communications arenas are plumb out of excuses when it comes to anticipating the fundamental shift in infrastructure design Kinetic Information believes will soon descend upon them. Specifically, hub-based architectures are about to burst on the scene in a very big way as large organizations seek new strategies for managing a virtual tidal wave of computer usage and network traffic, and require systems that support a new economy of scale. How do we know? Because history tells us it will be so!

As illustration, we offer three case examples: telephony, transportation, and utilities, all of which began with similar “point to point” models for service distribution and were forced to develop more cost-effective alternatives when volume began to balloon. Not coincidentally, all three settled on the hub as their reference model, and for the same essential reason: it is much more efficient to direct traffic and manage growth by monitoring a few select gateways – and adding more when needed – than by treating each item individually. Recognizing a good thing when they see one, the airlines adopted the much same approach when they were deregulated in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Vital Signs Suggest Hub Vitality
Today, the computing industry stands ready to take the hub road. Not that the concept is new in this context – what was client/server if not a small hub arrangement? – but usage has grown and matured to the point where the “usual” approaches are beginning to produce diminishing operational returns in terms of manageability and interoperability. At the same time, wireless technology has progressed to the point where it is nearly as practical a medium as conventional network cable, and the result is that the computing and communications communities today stand more closely together than ever before.

These twin vital signs in many ways are the impetus behind Web services, which promise to make sophisticated functionality like transaction processing, workflow, and business activity monitoring more accessible than ever, and thus more appealing to an ever-widening circle of users. Sensing the opportunity this represents, vendors in all market segments are now jumping on the bandwagon, and each is offering its own take on the Web services and hub phenomena. Here are few highlights from just the past six weeks or so:

• WS-I Posts Basic Profile for Web Services: The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) posted its Basic Profile Working Draft, an effort that went a considerable way toward making Web services work together well. The draft spells out a standard approach to security, protocol exchange and implementation, and describes how the most important current standards – SOAP, UDDI, WSDL and XML – should be used. This is a standards body with clout: members IBM and Microsoft have now been joined by Intel, Oracle, HP and BEA.

 
• SAP Debuts “Hub for Integrated Business Processes”: SAP uses that label to describe the SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) now offered with its mySAP products. The SAP XI platform combines interface and process logic with integration server and integration monitor, and was designed against many of the same Web services standards that WS-I is seeking to codify. SAP’s focus on hub-style management is particularly noteworthy because, as we’ve noted in other of our work, leaders in the enterprise resource planning space exert strong centripetal force on market sectors that seem at first to be far removed from ERP. These include workflow, business process management, integration tools, and portals – all disciplines key to the ongoing search for enterprise interoperability. 

 
• Mercator Announces Supply Chain Visibility Hub: In a move sure to be repeated by other EAI vendors, Mercator Software announced a solution it claims will link supply-chain and back-end applications. The Supply Chain Visibility Hub features a data repository and a user “dashboard” for tracking and managing supply-chain changes. In addition, the company is positioning its Mercator Integration Broker as a Web-services platform. 

 
• Vignette Buys Epicentric: Content management won’t remain a viable business for long unless it incorporates Web services management. That was undoubtedly the thinking behind Vignette Corp.’s acquisition of Epicentric Inc., a vendor of business portals that could bring security and management functionality to the marriage. The merged companies (see announcement here) promised to deliver “the first integrated foundation for enterprise Web applications to turn the real-time delivery of information assets into a competitive advantage." 

 
• HP Launches Adaptive Management Play for OpenView: Hewlett-Packard Co. is launching a hub initiative of its own via its OpenView network management system. An OpenView Web Services Management engine operates in both .NET and J2EE environments and enables enterprises and service providers to provision Web services and applications on a subscription basis. OpenView also now offers plug-ins for UDDI, SOAP and Web application servers. HP positions itself as a leader in what it calls “adaptive management”: quick and appropriate responsiveness to changes in performance and behavior that affect business processes occurring over the Web.

 
• “Service Hub” Initiatives from StreamServe and Cerylion: In recent local analyst briefings, StreamServe and Cerylion showed how they are marketing software solution architectures designed to centralize the design, delivery, and management of Web services and applications. StreamServe offers its Business Communication Platform as an intermediary layer between CRM, ERP and other legacy systems and everyday business processes as they touch the customer or supplier. The business value, say StreamServe executives, is the shortcutting of what otherwise becomes an unwieldy maze of point-to-point interconnections. Cerylion has created a runtime architecture – featuring a customized user workspace and active directory – that it markets as a resource-friendly way to integrate data and applications from disparate sources.