To some companies, enterprise architecture is part of compliance and administration. To others, it serves as a driver of innovation.
Lockheed Martin, for one, sees EA is the innovation light. Melvin Greer, senior research engineer of service-oriented architecture and cloud computing chief architect at Lockheed Martin, recently explained to GCN how EA means innovation.
For starters, EA helps organize SOA, mobile and cloud computing strategies, Greer says. EA provides a “measuring capability” that ensures that services meet the needs of businesses. At Lockheed-Martin, for example, the company has been adopting trusted cloud services through the Cyber Security Alliance to address requirements the entire enterprise, not just one-off functions. EA is helping the company “understand how [the services] are going to fit not only as a standalone capability but how they are going to fit into the overall enterprise architecture,” he says.
Those IT executives versed in EA have a competitive advantage because they’re able trained to “look at the entire enterprise to measure the alignment to business process,” Greer says. “They’re utilizing business processes as the criteria upon which to build candidate services in SOA, and they are using enterprise architecture to determine which part of their business might be best served by a cloud.” EA helps connect the dots between business requirements and new approaches SOA and cloud services can deliver.
Joe McKendrick is an author, consultant and speaker specializing in trends and developments shaping the technology industry.
Disclosure
Joe McKendrick
Joe McKendrick is an independent consultant, editor and speaker.
Joe has performed project work (white papers, articles, blogs, research and presentations) for the following companies in the IT marketspace:
- CBS Interactive/CNET/ZDNet (this blog)
- ebizQ
- Evans Data
- Gartner
- IBM
- Informatica
- IDC
- Microsoft
- Systinet/HP
- Teradata
- Unisphere Reseach, a division of Information Today, Inc.
- WebLayers
Joe has also performed research work for the following sponsoring organizations in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc.
- IBM
- Luminex
- Noetix
- Oracle Corp.
- Teradata
- Informatica
- International Oracle Users Group
- Oracle Applications Users Group
- Professional Association for SQL Server
- International DB2 Users Group
- International Sybase Users Group
- SHARE (IBM large systems users group)
Biography
Joe McKendrick
Joe McKendrick is an author and independent analyst who tracks the impact of information technology on management and markets. Joe is co-author, along with 16 leading industry leaders and thinkers, of the SOA Manifesto, which outlines the values and guiding principles of service orientation. He also speaks frequently on Enterprise 2.0 and SOA topics at industry events and Webcasts, and serves on the program committee for this year's SOA & Cloud Symposium in London. As an independent analyst, he has also authored numerous research reports in partnership with Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc. for user groups such as SHARE, Oracle Applications Users Group, and International DB2 Users Group. In a previous life, Joe served as director of the Administrative Management Society (AMS), an international professional association dedicated to advancing knowledge within the IT and business management fields. He is a graduate of Temple University.
