Business requirements change all the time, and no hardware platform guarantees immortality; immunity to obsolescence can only be designed into the system’s architecture. For migrating applications to a newer, redesigned system, the state of the art is the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The architectural design must retain the functionality of the legacy system while incorporating adaptability to change as a process inherent to the migrated system.
Architectural longevity is the emerging trend in IT as existing and new systems are service-enabled to interoperate. Business applications and data are separated from the presentation layer by insertion of the SOA interface layer for access to business logic and data bases – a key enabler for integrating diverse resources.
The SOA philosophy of separating the presentation and application with an interface layer permits diverse existing and future platforms the flexibility they need to co-exist and interoperate in a coherent manner. By componentizing critical business functions as needed, a repository of reusable business services can be built and choreographed to interoperate with existing services. This, in essence, captures the spirit of SOA for a self-adapting and growing system. A service-oriented architecture outlives the obsolescence of individual technologies by providing a coherent, durable framework and the flexibility to replace individual components without impacting other parts of the system. This flexibility and resilience is critical for adapting to the dynamically changing environment and accommodate migration and growth.
We are experienced in numerous architecture methodologies, and tools, e.g., Zachman’s and Popkin, Metis as well as modeling frameworks like FEA. Our architects are well grounded in Federal enterprise architecture models – DoDAF, GIG, NCES, FEAMS as well as peer-to-peer application integration and RUP, CMM, MVC and other application development processes.
We also practice various information management related regulations:
OMB Circulars A-11, A-123 and A-130, PDD 63 & 67, FIPS, NIST Special Publications, DoD 8500 Series, Clinger-Cohen Act (ITMRA), Sorbonne-Oxley, FISMA and other related Federal regulations.