Open Group releases TOGAF 9

The Open Group, a technology consortium focused on interoperability and "boundary-less information flow", has released version 9 of TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework), which provides a framework and method for enterprise architecture available to any organisation, according to InfoWorld.

Version 9, which follows the introduction of TOGAF 8 by six years, adds detail and clarity beyond previous versions of the specification, The Open Group says.

More than 60% of Fortune 50 and 80% of global Forbes 50 companies use TOGAF to reduce time, costs, and risks associated with developing enterprise architecture and improve business agility.

It's a bad time to advocate service-oriented architecture, never mind the irony that banks could benefit greatly from its use, according to American Banker.

“I deal mostly with C-level executives, and when you talk about SOA, their eyes roll a bit. At some places you can't even bring it up,” says Chris Howard, VP and service director at the Burton Group, in Cincinnati, who consults with many of the country's largest banks.

Howard says IT architecture implementations are often cast as “legacy modernisation” or positioned as a component of merger and acquisition conversions. “So we're using SOA principals, but using different languages.”

Software provider in strategic IT planning and management, alfabet's planningIT product is the number one current offering in EA Tools and is a leader in the IT Planning category, according to a new independent report, according to PR-inside

The Forrester Wave: Business Process Analysis, EA Tools, and IT Planning, Q1 2009, report by Forrester Research, states that "alfabet is clearly a thought leader in the IT planning category, and should be on the short list of anyone looking for an EA tool".

Alfabet attributes its excellent scores to its early understanding of the strategic role enterprise architecture plays in IT planning and management, and its unique ability to support companies in establishing effective transformation programmes.