Architect Cafe | September 2009 Series

Cafe-200909 

DAY 1 – September 28, 2009 at Noon PST
From the Trenches: Using Architectural Skills to Increase Solution Adoption Success Rates
(View Recording | Download Slides)Jim Wilt
Products,
Solution Frameworks, and Development Tools are too often touted by
vendors and development teams as solutions to customer business
problems. Why do development teams, customers, and users seek products
to fill this gap? When solutions fail is it too easy to blame a given
platform than for those really responsible to take responsibility? It
more often has to do with one's level of problem solving skills,
planning, and ability to align technology with business strategy. This
session introduces proven field architectural practices in leadership,
communication, and some strategy tools that will assist stakeholders in
becoming owners of their solutions--taking responsibility for their
outcomes. This results in greater customer satisfaction, as the focus
is all about enabling problem solvers (not expecting products) to
deliver successful solutions.

Using Architectural Skills to Increase Solution Adoption Success Rates -

DAY 2 – September 29, 2009 at Noon PST
Software as a Service in the Cloud
(View Recording | Download Slides)Michael Stiefel
Architecting
and building a Software as a Service application requires solving a
series of problems that are independent of a particular software
platform. First, a SaaS architecture follows directly from the
fundamental principles of the business model. Second, a series of
difficult technical problems must be solved in addition to providing
the business functionality. These include certificate security,
low-IT-capable clients, business continuity when connectivity is lost,
provisioning of services, scalability as the number of clients
increase, database design for clients, how to use virtualization, and
how to integrate and release service functionality over several
different client applications. Third, you have to effectively use the
platform technology such as WCF and ASP.NET. If you approach building a
SaaS application on these three levels, you can then leverage your work
into new platforms such as Windows Azure.

Software as a Service in the Cloud -

SPEAKER BIOS

Michael Stiefel - Principal of Reliable Software, Inc.
Michael
is a consultant on software architecture and development, and the
alignment of information technology with business goals.  He is also a
Microsoft Solutions Architect MVP.  Education: Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, with a Interdisciplinary Ph.D degree in Nuclear
Engineering, Political Science, and History of Technology; M.S. in
Nuclear Engineering; and B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He is an
active member of the IEEE Consultants Network.

Jim Wilt - Chief Software Architect for Metrics Reporting Inc.

Jim Wilt focuses his deep experience and seasoned problem solving skills toward helping his customers architect the best possible solutions to succeed with their thorniest problems related to aligning their strategic business goals with technology.

With a degree in Physics/Computer Science/Mathematics from Central Michigan University, he has been awarded for his development of operating systems to real-time machine control and CAD solutions in aerospace to business solutions utilizing advanced Microsoft technologies.

He is now tenured in strategy and innovation consulting and advocates aligning business strategies with technological solutions using smart client, portal, and integration technologies in his principal role as Chief Software Architect and Partner at Metrics Reporting, Inc.

Having a passion for the advancement of higher education, Jim participates on an advisory boards at Central Michigan University, the Microsoft Certified Architect review board, and is a member of the International Association of Software Architects Architecture Training Council. He is also a 2006 CMU Distinguished Alumni award recipient.

Jim is a regular speaker at SharePoint user groups, IASA events, Microsoft SAF, TechReady, & TechEd as well as Channel 9 broadcasts.

For information on other events part of the Architect Cafe series, please visit https://blogs.msdn.com/sac/pages/architect-cafe.aspx