JOURNAL 5
Gurpreet Pall
Senior Director, Architecture Strategy Team, Microsoft Corporation
July 2005
Foreword
Dear Architect,
Over the last 18 months, I've been fortunate to witness the evolution of the Architect Journal right from its inception to this current edition—Journal 5. It has grown in many ways, especially as a vehicle for architects across the globe to share ideas—learning new and unique perspectives. One key indicator that this vehicle is getting a life of its own is the sense of continuity that is emerging across the articles—references and commentary—on articles in previous journals and commitments by authors to write sequels to the topics they introduce in this edition. It encouraged me to go spelunking for old editions and raises my curiosity for future ones.
Architecture in the systems world is as vast as the galaxy, and architects who operate in it have unique challenges like no other role that comes to mind easily. What makes it even more challenging is that only a handful of educational institutions offer a formal degree program in this discipline. Unlike their counterparts in the building world with framed diplomas hanging on the walls, architectural knowledge is not so easy to acquire. It's a refined discipline which only the brave Jedi knights with special aptitude have chosen to take on. With the rapid rate of change in the business world and the speed of technology innovation, architects need a medium to stay current, exchange ideas with peers, and grow. Only individuals who are comfortable dealing with ambiguity, who possess knowledge and experience in many disciplines, and who enjoy juggling the requirements of various stakeholders tend to venture into this exciting and exigent frontier. The Journal is a key medium that goes a long way to making this possible.
Reading through the six articles and admiring the meandering graphics in this edition I learned new things and found perspective on perplexing questions that sometimes keep me awake at night. Richard Veryard and Philip Boxer's article made we wander the streets of an agile Metropolis seeking parallels with SOA governance space. I stepped through a comprehensive, pre-flight checklist for evaluating technologies from Anna Liu and Ian Gorton for my services-based integration needs. If I had to solve picking the right transportation alternatives for Web services, I would take the route of "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" by Simon Guest. For a moment there, I thought I was reading about metropolitan transportation planning.
Every article in this edition is rich and engaging and sets the rhythm for the "Think, Learn, Solve" theme of the newly launched Architecture Resource Center on Microsoft.com.
I'm confident this edition will make you think, learn something new, and help you grow like it did me. I hope it also motivates you to use Journal as a medium to share your knowledge and perspective.
Enjoy!
Gurpreet S. Pall
Senior Director, Architecture Strategy Team
Microsoft Corporation
Articles in This Issue
Metropolis and SOA Governance, Part 1: Towards the Agile Metropolis
An Introduction to Topic Maps
Value-Driven Architecture: Linking Product Strategy with Architecture
Process and Criteria for Evaluating Services-Based Integration Technologies
Service-Oriented, Distributed, High-Performance Computing
Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Choosing Alternate Transports for Web Services
Download this issue here
Credits
Executive Editor & Program Manager
**Arvindra Sehmi
**Architect, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Microsoft EMEA
www.thearchitectexchange.com/asehmi
Managing Editor
**Graeme Malcolm
**Principal Technologist, Content Master Ltd
Editorial Board
**Christopher Baldwin
**Principal Consultant, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Microsoft EMEA
**Felipe Cabrera
**Architect, Advanced Web Services, Microsoft Corporation
**Gianpaolo Carraro
Architect, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Windows
**Evangelism, Microsoft Corporation
**Mark Glikson
**Program Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Architecture Strategy, Microsoft Corporation
**Simon Guest
**Program Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Architecture Strategy, Microsoft Corporation
www.simonguest.com
**Neil Hutson
**Director of Windows Evangelism, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Microsoft Corporation
**Terry Leeper
**Director, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Microsoft EMEA
**Eugenio Pace
**Program Manager, Platform Architecture Group, Microsoft Corporation
**Harry Pierson
**Architect, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Architecture Strategy, Microsoft Corporation
devhawk.net
**Michael Platt
**Architect, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Microsoft Ltd
blogs.msdn.com/michael_platt
**Beat Schwegler
**Architect, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Microsoft EMEA
**Philip Teale
**Partner Strategy Manager, Enterprise Partner Group, Microsoft Ltd
Project Management
**Content Master Ltd
**www.contentmaster.com
Design Direction
**venturethree, London
**www.venturethree.com
Orb Solutions, London
Orchestration
**Richard Hughes
**Program Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism Group, Architecture Strategy, Microsoft Corporation
Foreword Contributor
Gurpreet Pall
Senior Director, Architecture Strategy Team, Microsoft Corporation
This article was published in the Architecture Journal, a print and online publication produced by Microsoft. For more articles from this publication, please visit the Architecture Journal Web site.