Steve Benfield

Solving complexity has been a continuing goal of application architects & developers since we started writing programs. While SOA techniques do a great job at standardizing the interface between systems and BPEL attempts to standardize the logic flow between services, they tend t... (more)

Java and J2EE are at a crossroads - facing issues such as complexity and vendor lock-in. Where can you turn for the the productivity, performance, and ROI you've come to expect? Having entered the mainstream and taken hold in roughly 70% of enterprises, Java is the clear winner ... (more)

I have a love/hate relationship with J2EE. I love the idea of standards that we can all use in our development to improve interoperability, ease integration issues, create a pool of skilled developers, etc. I hate the idea that I have to wait years for the standards to evolve and... (more)

Special Java Session! This is a crucial time for Java and J2EE. Competing market and technical interests are moving Java in different directions. IT organizations are clamoring for ease of development, faster standards adoption, and stability. The application server market contin... (more)

Read JDJ's 2004 Predictions by i-Technology Leaders Feature Story Read The End of Middleware by Jonathan Schwartz Read Offshore Outsourcing by Jack Martin My dad is a DBA. However, he doesn't design large databases, he doesn't write extremely elaborate multiselect SQLs (I don't t... (more)

Hmm..according to my latest Monthly Hype magazine, Web services open a whole new vista of applications to the world. Applications that have been unseen or unimagined by mankind. Everyone is asking about the Web Services Killer App. What is the Killer App? The Web Services Killer... (more)

Web services has promised many things. One primary promise has been the ability to piece applications together by snapping Web services together like so many Lego blocks. The output of one service becomes the input to the next and so on. In 2001, IBM published a specification ca... (more)

So, what is going on in the world of Web services? I'm looking at a ton of analyst reports saying Web services won't be mainstream for another two or three years. One firm says that only 16% of companies will use Web services this year. I suppose it comes down to your definition ... (more)

My hype meter has been revved up lately, and what has pegged it is Web services. Who is hyping up Web services? Hmm...Microsoft, Sun, IBM, HP, BEA, SilverStream, Ariba, BowStreet, webMethods...my aunt Judy. I'm expecting to see this e-mail soon: "Quit your job and make $100,000 a... (more)

So, people keep asking me, "Steve, how come you are such a wild and crazy guy?" OK, sorry, a late 70s flashback there. No, they ask me, "Steve, what's your take on Web Services?" To that, I have a standard opening: There is nothing special about Web Services. Web Services will ... (more)

To put it bluntly, SilverStream 2.0 sets a new standard for large-scale Web development and deployment. We first looked at the product in June 1997 when they were the newest entrant in the application server market. It lacked many enterprise features such as scalability, fault to... (more)

As the push to Web-based computing gains momentum, the variety of available tools, standards, techniques and languages gets increasingly complex. In implementing a Web strategy, IS managers must make some hard decisions on issues that include: supported browsers, ISP selection, W... (more)