Posts tagged ‘Technology Infrastructure’
Latest from Google – Public DNS
Google announced on Dec 3rd the launch of a new, free-to-public service – Domain Name System. Link is here.
Unlike many other services provided by Google, such as Google Apps or Google Earth, which are truly unique and new and provide immediate value to its users, the DNS is a system that is at the heart of the functioning of the Internet and it already works well. So why would Google spend its time and effort on something that is not really recognized to be a problem that needs fixing?
Google lists three benefits from this service:
- Better Performance: Google says its has implemented “smart caching” to improve the responsiveness of its DNS system.
- Better Security: Google DNS authenticates responses from other DNS servers to prevent routing to malicious sites and its also helps prevent Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.
- Correct Results: Google Public DNS never blocks, filters, or redirects users, unlike some open resolvers and ISPs.
All in all, this project seems to be driven by Google’s desire to make the Internet safer, better and faster. It will certainly help cement Google’s critical role in the center of all things Internet. It may also help Google collect metrics on the popularity and traffic of websites.
Does this mean it is curtains for companies that provide DNS services for a fee – such as DynDNS, OpenDNS, DNS Made Easy etc.?
Not really. Google says its free offering is NOT a DNS authoritative name hosting service. So, organizations that use these above mentioned companies will have to continue using them for maintaining their domain records.
An Enterprise Architecture Framework for all seasons…
Document: Adeptia Enterprise Architecture Framework. (27 slides, 15 mins to review).
Over the years, as we sell and deploy our software for our customers, we are amazed to see how many companies do not have an Enterprise Architecture approach in place for their IT infrastructure. This is not just limited to smaller companies for whom an IT Enterprise Architecture (EA) may be an overkill but even many mid-sized to large businesses have not yet invested in putting an overarching enterprise architecture in place.
There are many reasons for not having this architecture in place but some of the main reasons we have observed are:
- Growth of business from when EA was not needed to now when it is
- Focus on day-to-day problem solving and short-term IT issues
- Focus on “must-have” needs rather than “nice-to-have” initiatives which is how EA is perceived
- Lack of skills in-house to drive, implement and manage EA
Although having an Enterprise Architecture in place is certainly not needed to successfully deploy Adeptia solutions, we recommend our customers to think about having fundamental practices of EA in place to get the maximum advantage from their investment in Adeptia. A well-executed Enterprise Architecture really gets the most value out of a process-centric and SOA-based software solution such as Adeptia.
Some of the benefits of Enterprise Architecture are:
- Aligns business strategy with technology investment
- Creates a vision and strategy for Information Technology
- “Blueprint” on how to view and approach IT projects
- Presents a Functional and a matching Technology view for every initiative
- Helps put a plan in place on how to get to the vision in an evolutionary, incremental way
- Provides a structure for consistent IT decision making
An Enterprise Architecture for each company would be unique as it will take into account its business model, strategic objectives, size of the business and IT applications and systems. Adeptia helps its customers by providing a “framework” to help them think about a model for how to design an EA that best meets their needs. Here is a document that describes the Adeptia Enterprise Architecture Framework. (27 slides, 15 mins to review). Please keep in mind this is only a “framework”, which is a roadmap or a starting point, and not a full-blown Enterprise Architecture.
This document recommends having two perspectives to an IT Enterprise Architecture: A Functional View and a Technology View. An EA would have the following four key elements:
- People
- Processes
- Systems
- Information
Each of these elements have a number of other attributes as defined in the document.
We have found that this framework provides an excellent starting point to companies that have not thought about Enterprise Architecture or need a high-level introduction to taking a consistent approach towards all their IT projects and initiatives.
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