US govt eager about EA

Over the past two years, governments around the world have caught the enterprise architecture and SOA fever, says Sys-Con Media.

This is especially the case in the US federal government, where a number of regulations, EA frameworks, and major spending initiatives are all pointing towards continued and lasting expenditure and investment in the area of EA.

One can also notice this trend based on the number of EA and SOA events now focused on the US federal government, or at least taking place in the Washington, DC area.

Seemingly the hottest topic in insurance technology circles these days, cloud computing has received so much ink that many insurers are uncertain how, if at all, they will take advantage of this means of software delivery, according to Insurance Networking News.

However, many insurers already have experience and knowledge on handling the finer points of cloud, especially if they have been working with service oriented architecture (SOA) in recent years.

In fact, many proponents see cloud computing as an extension of SOA best practices, invoking trusted, reusable services from third-parties that may or may not be outside the firewall.

The Open Group has formed a group to develop standards that make cloud computing effective and secure the use of the technology and services, states NetworkWorld.

There are already several other industry efforts toward addressing identifiable issues with cloud deployments and services, but this latest is trying to make a unique contribution.

While other efforts look at cloud architecture and try to address technology concerns, Open Group's Cloud Work Group is looking first at what businesses need from cloud providers, then creating standards that can help meet those needs.