Ron Schmelzer over at ZapThink just gave me the word this morning that his SOA-focused consulting practice has been acquired by Dovèl Technologies.
ZapThink has been very much in the forefront of the SOA and enterprise architecture movement since the early part of the 2000s decade — I can’t even count the number of workshops and seminars Ron and his co-founder, Jason Bloomberg, have conducted over the years. They also sponsor a certification program (Licensed ZapThink Architect — LZA) , and also publish funky SOA wall posters with everything you need to know about service orienting.
The synergy with Dovèl ought to be interesting — this is a consultancy that has built an SOA and IT management practice around federal government agencies, from the US Department of Defense to Securities and Exchange Commission. We’re definitely talking about “Big SOA” here. ZapThink also has some big clients, but they have also addressed SMBs and more incremental SOA approaches in their work.
Ron pointed out to me that there’s a lot the commercial sector can learn from the federal government, at least in terms of SOA. There’s a much stronger commitment to SOA in the government, “which is moving at a far faster and more advanced pace than the private sector,” he says. “A ton more stuff is going on in Defense, a range of agency activities, and all across the board from a federal, state, and local perspective.” Of course, ZapThink will also increase Dovèl’s footprint in the private sector now as well.
ZapThink will continue as a wholly owned subsidiary of Dovèl Technologies. Ron and Jason will stay on as well.
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.
