DMR

The Subtle Difference Is in the IT

Marcel Berneaud — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:33:23 +0100

During times of crisis, banks and insurance companies must seek to reposition themselves in some areas. It is more important than ever before for companies to set themselves apart from the competition. The success of such a differentiation strategy is in no small part dependent on effective and holistic management of enterprise architecture – and on the identification of the core business capabilities.

Objectivity Rather Than Gut Feeling

Michael Kruess — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:15:46 +0200

Despite deadline pressures and a lack of information, CIOs must make long-term investment decisions related to IT infrastructure. Confronted with fast “return on investment” demands, insufficient information, and the consequent lack of a clear appraisal of the effects of changes, they frequently base their decisions on gut feeling, vendor contacts, and individual experience. The use of application infrastructure intelligence enhances this subjective approach by incorporating solid information.

Navigating with a Sure Hand

Thomas Schaer — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:30:31 +0200

An up-to-date data map models the information technology of a company. It is important support for CIOs in ordering and maintaining control over the complexity of the IT systems and data structures. Moreover, it improves communications between business and IT, creates transparency about the utilization of data, and reveals potential for financial savings.

The Transparent Customer

Daniel Henkel, Dr. Wolfgang Knospe, Peter Krah — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:40:58 +0200

The successful operation of a mobile network is based on knowing the customers’ needs precisely. Today’s mobile applications in particular collect information about customers in tremendous detail. The systematic analysis of the data and incorporation of the results in all of the strategy development and planning processes guarantees focused investments and a profitable network. The framework is defined by ethical and legal considerations for protection of the customers’ privacy.

Protection of Identity

Jörg Fischer, Karsten Knüttel — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:54:41 +0200

In converging and mature markets consolidation plays a central role to maintain market share and to reduce operating costs. Substantial potentials are in the utilization of advanced technologies in the service platform and subscriber data management. Advanced technologies in this context are not to be seen as plain performance improvement, but more as the implementation of a new way to produce services and managing customers’ identities, e.g. for the usage of Web applications.

Between Monolith and Stone Sea

Michael Kruess — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:23:25 +0200

Successful and sustainable application consolidation depends on an optimized, but, simultaneously, flexible infrastructure. An extension of available virtualization concepts all the way to grid or cloud computing provides far-reaching optimization potential while at the same time restructuring application landscapes at a manageable rate. The evaluation of current consolidation options and helpful instruments for securing a long-term application consolidation strategy defines the general framework for action.

The Secret Is in the Mix

Johannes Ewers — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:01:27 +0200

Consolidation and automation of business processes are key “lean management” measures which can be implemented in an SOA ecosystem. Conventional wisdom says that doing so requires complex tools and extensive implementation projects. That is not necessarily the case. More and more frequently, a new term has been popping up which has been seeping into the architecture of complex systems from the Web 2.0 world: “business mashups” are supposed to simplify the automation of processes and make it a viable practice.

Stop, Cost Control!

Riadh Marrakchi, Youssef EL Ouariachi — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:34:04 +0200

The telecommunications industry has seen a hike in investments since the New Economy shock in the 90s. Spectacular investments, particularly in the pursuance of new licences and larger market footprints, have tempted telecommunication operators worldwide. Often there was not a strong focus on value creation and profitability. As a result, the business environment became tougher than ever before.

Less Is Often More

Dr. Norbert Hövelmanns, Markus Staub — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:05:58 +0200

Who hasn’t experienced it: the miraculous multiplication of applications! Although there are many causes, the effect is always the same: IT costs increase. The conventional approaches usually consider only the infrastructure with the goal of cutting operating costs by consolidating the hardware. The applications running on the infrastructure are not given any thought in this case. In the long run, this oversight could turn into a major problem because a comprehensive consolidation of the application landscape not only helps to cut costs, but also creates the basis for efficient architecture management.

Consolidate...or perish!

Joseph Noronha, Martin Pieperhoff-Sauter — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:58:19 +0200

A consolidated infrastructure for digital media services provides multiple services across different screens using the same underlying platform. Examples illustrate how business wins including reduction of operational costs and significantly shortened time to market can be realized by consolidation. Such infrastructure consolidations are imperative in these difficult economic times; it could play a role in determining who will prevail or who will perish.

From the Village Lane to the Highway

Dr. Eric Dulkeith, Dr. Kai Grunert, Stefanus van der Merwe — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:33:03 +0100

Ever since the first live telephone traffic was sent through fiber optics in April 1977, the evolution of optical networks can be characterized by two major trends: Packets replacing circuits and photonics replacing electronics. Together with these two trends, the ever-increasing bandwidth demand drives optical fiber networks to consider, develop, and add new solutions such as Photonic Packet Switching (PPS) into their family of next-generation dynamic optical network components.

Speed Is (No) Magic

Daniel Schultz, Dr. Hans-Peter Petry — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:52:48 +0100

The performance capability of modern mobile communication networks is steadily increasing in respect to data transmission rates. Right now, we are moving in the direction of systems of the 4th generation (4G). So far, each new generation has raised the bar – in theory, at least – for the achievable data rates by an order of magnitude. This in turn creates enormous expectations among network operators and customers for corresponding changes to service offerings. Some protagonists even go so far as to predict an end to fixed network technology in the last mile. But practical experience shows that the marketed values and performance properties ultimately experienced by users need to be subjected to critical consideration. We must not allow ourselves to confuse fiction with reality.

Flexibility from the Cloud

Christoph Eikmeier, Dr.Volker Rieger, Erwin Weber — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:19:22 +0100

Something is brewing on the Internet. More and more companies are closing down their own ICT service operations and are instead turning to the Web for online resources. Whether it is a customer database, computing power, or CRM software that is wanted – Internet access is all that is required to obtain it. Moreover, online services can be scaled flexibly and costs are incurred only for those capacities which are actually used by the business. Companies can now shift nearly their entire corporate IT application portfolio onto the Web. Will everything come from the “digital cloud” in the future?

The Crucial Question

Dirk Pracht, Frank Weiß — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:31:54 +0100

Innovations are a decisive lever for market success. But creativity is also under pressure: product life cycles are becoming substantially shorter so that any lead resulting from innovation does not last long. The promises offered by new innovation methods such as open innovation and design thinking to accelerate the innovation process are examined closely here.

Ways Out of the Frequency Bottleneck

Daniel Schultz, Dr. Andreas Schieder — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:33:37 +0100

The rising demand for broadband data services has recently been spilling over more and more into the sector of mobile networks as well. Operators of these networks and network outfitters find themselves confronted by a major challenge: they must provide efficient network solutions which make high transmission rates available at a commercially reasonable price to the places where they are required. The cooperation between networks and their elements can lead to a reduction in infrastructure costs, turning it into a component of an efficient network solution.

The End of Babylon

Christoph Eikmeier, Dr.Volker Rieger, Erwin Weber — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:38:21 +0100

Communications, both internally and with corporations’ external partners, are becoming increasingly complex. Today, a number of additional electronic communications channels have been added to the now-familiar telephone, chat, text messages (SMS), and e-mail. “Unified Communications” (UC) is an attempt to gain control over this complexity through better networking. But for what companies is UC really worthwhile? And how will it affect the providers’ value chains?

The Next Generation

Dr. Andreas Gerwens — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:27:23 +0100

The shift from one technology generation to the next is a real challenge for both the network operator and the infrastructure supplier. Whereby in the past the new technology was installed alongside the old one, it is becoming increasingly important to actually integrate the old installed basis into the new network. In order to satisfy this objective the new network must be able to ‘network’ effectively.

Model (I)T

Andreas Westendörpf, Mark Brinkmann — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:11:13 +0100

Those responsible for IT infrastructure had only just started to rave about the immediate benefits of technical virtualization when the risk of losing operational control reared its ugly head. Proven production concepts provide orientation: fordism and toyotism can help ensure that the operation of virtual IT infrastructures stays in line with the organization’s business requirements.

Unchained

Marco Röder — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:05:47 +0100

Rich Internet applications are applications which are launched from a browser like a Web site, but have the look and feel of desktop applications. They can be used independently of platforms and without installation, so they can be utilized in many different ways. They create a technological enabler for low-cost, individual business applications on an SaaS basis. In addition, they pave the way to innovative services for telcos and can make valuable contributions independently of business sectors during the marketing of products and services.

Like a Sack Full of Fleas

Manfred Schmitz — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:29:50 +0200

Mobile operators have differentiated their business models and fragmented their value chains. But a simple split into those services which are better provided internally and those which can be supplied by a partner is short-sighted. Active vendor management can be used to ensure that control is maintained over the outsourced activities.