... by the thundering herd of larger companies that are flocking to Web services technology. Archie Roboostoff, senior manager of product management at NetManage Inc. in Cupertino, Calif., says that service-oriented architecture (SOA) is taking off like a rocket this year. "In the enterprise," he says, "it's a herd mentality." At least smaller companies have a good reason to make the move. Roboostoff contends that small and midsize businesses (SMB) are being roped into adopting SOAs because they need to work with big enterprises, which are demanding that their supply chains join the herd. But reluctant SMBs are at a disadvantage because they have neither the staff nor the expertise to take on SOA in a strategic way, Roboostoff says. One tactical approach he suggests is to analyze trans-actions with partners to determine which processes are ripe for Web services. He argues that SMBs need simple point-and-click tools for creating, exposing and subscribing to specific Web services -- not for making a full-blown shift to SOA. Don't try to boil the ocean, in other words -- just one bucket of it at a time.
GLBA, HIPAA and SOX are scary letters ...
... but are only a snippet of the frightening regulatory alphabet. There are thousands of federal, state, local and international regulations that are foisted upon businesses each year, and Roger Bottum thinks it's foolish to try to keep up with them. That's his company's job. Bottum, vice president of marketing at Axentis Inc. in Warrensville Heights, Ohio, argues that IT departments should get out of compliance management because regulations change constantly -- so much so, he says, that it's all but impossible for IT to keep up with the changes, let alone ensure that companies are in compliance. That is all Axentis does, Bottum says. And because it does so via a software-as-a-service approach, you won't need a big IT initiative to set up a compliance management program using its technology. This week, the company will update its Axentis Enterprise software to let you test it with live production data during rollouts. Pricing starts at US$50,000.
Manufacturers need a new metric ...
... for profitability. According to Michael Rothschild, CEO of Maxager Technology Inc. in San Rafael, Calif., most manufacturers, especially those that make thousands of discrete items, measure success on a profit-per-unit basis. That's old-fashioned and, Rothschild suggests, much less profitable than the profit-per-minute model he has developed. Roths-child argues that the time it takes to make items must also be factored in because you might be able to produce many more low-margin units than high-margin ones for greater overall profitability. But first you need to determine the mix of products that will get you the highest profit per minute, which is what Maxager 7, available today, does for you. New in Version 7 is an advanced what-if planning tool, Rothschild says. Pricing is based on the annual revenue of customers.
Let Mr. Loopster looseon your PCs ...
... to increase productivity. If you've ever wished for a better way to view overlapping windows on your computer display, consider Deskloops, a promising GUI tool from Xilokit LLC in New York. Now available in a Beta 1.4 release, the free download lets you string disparate windows together into a "loop," an interactive view that controls their size and placement. Xilokit CEO Eran Palatnik says you can make loops of windows from any Windows application. You also can save a loop and send it as an attachment in e-mail. But instead of seeing a string of file attachments, recipients will get a loop of thumbnails to click on. And if they have the app running on their machines, the program will load as if it were an attachment. Palatnik expects Deskloops 2.0 -- the first nonbeta release -- to be available in the fall. Mr. Loopster, the company's virtual mascot, thinks you should get in the loop.
Capture today's multimedia ...
... presentations for tomorrow's classes. In mid-July, Accordent Technologies Inc. in Hermosa Beach, Calif., will ship its Capture Station 2.3 software, which runs on PCs, Macs and a stand-alone appliance. Capture Station grabs and stores a speaker's audio feed and the visual content on his computer in real time. Designed for uses such as training and distance learning, the software tracks which end users have seen presentations and can prevent them from watching subsequent programs in a series if they have yet to view the previous ones, Accordent CEO Mike Newman says. The release lets you generate podcasts, and in September, Capture Station will get support for Flash demonstrations, Newman says. Pricing starts at $15,000.