Bank wants SOA-savvy vendors

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has called for bids from seven software service suppliers, including IBM and a number of Indian firms, as its dissolves its $5 billion outsourcing contract with incumbent EDS, reports Australian IT.

The seven invited bidders would be judged on service quality and their ability to fit in with the bank's enterprise architecture, says Michael Harte, the bank's CIO.

"We are doing this for contestability, high levels of service quality and their ability to deliver software as a service, service-oriented capability to keep us at the forefront," says Harte. "Bidders will be selected on a quality basis and on their ability to deliver within the enterprise architecture."

Enterprise Management Associates released its collection of Top 10 questions to ask before any virtualisation project, reports Computer World.

According to EMA senior analyst, Andi Mann, the list starts with the basics around existing skill sets and quickly moves on to technical hurdles, about which every IT organisation should be aware.

"In some cases, the technology is not ready, or the returns will not be sufficient to embark on such a major change in technology, architecture and process," Mann writes. "Virtualisation should not be rushed. It is a long-term opportunity, and enterprises that approach virtualisation carefully as a strategy, not just a project, will be better positioned to benefit in the long run."

Dow Chemical Company's plans for a global service-oriented architecture (SOA) could show other SAP R/2 users an alternative to SAP R/3 as a route to a more modern IT environment, reports Computer Weekly.

The SOA, which Dow dubs its Next Enterprise Architecture, is based on SAP's Netweaver and MySAP platforms. It is designed for flexibility to respond to market changes. Melanie Kalman, Dow's information systems programme director, says: "We have not yet quantified the results, but the team saw such a drastic reduction in time that all future products will take this route.

"The biggest challenge has been getting key IT suppliers to understand that Dow is on a transformational journey. We are not simply executing a technical upgrade of the capability we have today; we expect the IT capabilities to help us deliver the desired business results."