Enhance an Existing Service-Oriented Implementation

Analyze and Improve Your New Architectural Strategy

If you are considering implementing a service-oriented architecture (SOA), you probably want to know how a the Cisco Service-Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) framework can enhance the work you already have underway. Your current SOA strategy likely has these objectives:

• Provide a more flexible services architecture that can rapidly and easily adapt to the evolving needs of the business
• Enable reuse of key application functionality to contain ongoing application development and maintenance costs
• Enable platform-agnostic integration of applications logic and data
• Consider use of software as a service (SaaS) for non-core functionality
• Select infrastructure appropriate to securing, managing and operating the application services distributed across the network

Although technologies and techniques associated with your new strategy can potentially reduce costs and risks, you are justifiably reluctant to jeopardize existing infrastructure and operations. Any new technology and capabilities must deliver value without disrupting your current project plans, timelines, and business objectives.

Participate in a Collaborative Workshop

You can attend a Cisco workshop designed for anyone with these concerns who wants to leverage the Cisco SONA framework for an existing SOA implementation. The workshop:

• Builds a clear understanding of your business challenges and IT objectives
• Identifies areas of potential benefit to your company’s near-term business challenges
• Focuses on the challenges associated with your SOA transformation
• Lets you share an overview of your SOA strategy and how you plan to address the business agility and flexibility challenges affecting current operations

This approach helps the Cisco team explore areas in which Cisco SONA can support your SOA transformation strategy and determine the impact of those recommendations on business applications and infrastructure.

The group separates into two working teams, each consisting of Cisco representatives and representatives from your company. One group focuses on how application-oriented infrastructure services can enhance your existing SOA initiative. The other group identifies infrastructure enhancements that can deliver both lasting value and near-term benefit. The teams then reconvene to combine and prioritize these ideas. They also outline, where appropriate, associated proof-of-concept demonstrations that can validate the benefits of the recommendations.

Understand Application and Infrastructure Benefits

On the application side, Cisco SONA technology uses Cisco Application-Oriented Networking (AON) in its infrastructure. Cisco AON includes monitoring capabilities that might not be available in the current SOA environment, such as nonintrusive monitoring of Web services, and sending of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) requests to Cisco AON for new integration services.

These capabilities give you insight into the operation and performance of your SOA environment and improve governance of services, with a low impact on business transactions. Using an appropriate Cisco AON operating mode, you can accomplish this aim without risk to business operations.

On the network infrastructure side, the teams look for ways to provide a sound foundation for the continuing development of your SOA strategy while lowering total cost of ownership through best practice design principles. Some of these methods include designing a hierarchical data center and deploying virtualization technologies that incorporate:

• Storage area network (SAN) virtualization
• Small Computer System Interface over IP (iSCSI)
• Network-accelerated serverless backups
• Streaming closed circuit television security video

Update Your Strategy

Once the groups address basic network infrastructure issues, the Cisco team identifies technologies that can assist with a new network management strategy that encompasses both Cisco SONA and your existing SOA. The team does this by:

• Evaluating your current situation; identifying strengths, weaknesses, and gaps; and producing a network management roadmap and plan. This step relies on Cisco Info Center, a Cisco SONA-ready solution that provides a high-performance, distributed, and integrated client/server system for alarm and event management from diverse sources, including third-party products and standard management platforms.
• Designing and implementing a dual Internet Service Provider (ISP) architecture that provides risk mitigation and business continuity if one ISP has a service disruption.
• Conducting an operational risk management assessment to identify gaps and deviations from industry best practices in operational processes and procedures.