Part of the rationale for Web services has always been that they can tunnel through firewalls, linking networks that are otherwise securely separated. Virtualization puts up similar barriers between applications within a single machine, so will crossing them require similar technology?

When Cisco and Juniper first said they were opening their router OSes, I thought that they'd be about as open as the iPhone. With Cisco's launch of IOS XE, I realize I was wrong: The iPhone is much more open.

Riverbed jumps much deeper into application-aware networking today with the RiOS Service Platform, a way to run servers on its Steelhead branch-office boxes using virtualization.  As with similar initiatives from Cisco and 3Com, Riverbed's long-term aim is to replace servers with networking appliances: Virtualization decouples software from hardware, so why bother with physical servers?

SaaS provider Workday has bought Cape Clear, one of the last remaining independent ESB (enterprise service bus) vendors. It isn't surprising that Cape Clear would disappear. Even as ESBs grow more popular, the market for standalone products is shrinking thanks to consolidation and commoditization. But Workday is an unusual acquirer: Rather than another player in the SOA space, Workday is a Cape Clear customer, using the Cape Clear ESB within its hosted ERP application.

Enterprise mashup service provider Serena Software announced yesterday that it's giving away 12 pre-built mashups aimed at common business tasks. But if mashups are so easy to make, why is giving them away such a big deal?

The Web-based application development tools vendor formerly known as ActiveGrid has just relaunched itself as WaveMaker Software, claiming that it can make Web 2.0 "CIO-Safe."

If I were a CIO, I'd find that quite patronizing: It suggests that the CIO is just an obstacle to be overcome before users can play with cool new Web 2.0 technologies. But perhaps that's how users increasingly see the CIO, and enterprise IT as a whole.

CA has launched a SOA Security Gateway, part of its IAM (Identity and Access Management) r12. The announcement brings CA into head-on competition with vendors including IBM and Cisco, though it doesn't really represent another player in the market, as much of the technology comes from an OEM deal with Web services security vendor Vordel.

The Free Software Foundation published the final draft of AGPL v3 today. Like GPL v3 earlier this year, this is an open-source license intended to fix what its authors see as a loophole in older versions of the GPL – namely that only users who run a program locally are entitled to its source code.

If you buy into the idea that converged communications means more than just cheap phone calls or access to the corporate PBX from anywhere, SOA and VoIP ought to be perfect partners. Exposing telephony functions as reusable Web services should make them easier to integrate into other applications, and the same applies to all the other services like IM and video that are supposed to be converging with voice.

That's the thinking behind the SOA strategy Nortel announced this week, as well its partnership with IBM and its use of WebSphere. But how much work still needs to be done to make IP telephony part of SOA, and what kind  of composite apps will be built on top of it?

So far, the big news at this week's OracleWorld show has nothing to do with Oracle. It's that IBM is buying Cognos, until this morning the largest independent business intelligence vendor.

IBM says that Cognos will help it address customer demand for data analysis. This is true, but IBM was already doing that through a partnership with Cognos, so the real impact on IBM customers is zero. The acquisition's biggest effect will be to undermine competitors, and not just by temporarily upstaging Larry Ellison.

Software AG held its annual Integration World conference in Orlando this week. The name is more appropriate now than ever, as it's still busy integrating its own products with webMethods'.

Though the company's SOA roadmap doesn't call for a full merger of the old webMethods and Software AG lines until mid next year (and that looks likely to slip), it clearly wants people to think that it's ready for more, announcing partnerships with security gateway maker Layer 7 and business intelligence vendor Cognos . Both are important, but they're better news for the partners than for Software AG.

HP has just announced its Service Delivery Platform 2.0, a SOA bundle aimed at telcos. The interesting parts are its intended applications, and how similar the telcos are to other enterprises.

IBM today launches Innov8, a 3D virtual reality game intended to teach business types about SOA and BPM. According to IBM, it will both help align business with IT and reduce an alleged skills shortage.

From the trailer, Innov8 looks more interesting than the average corporate marketing. But is a computer game really the best way to attract non-technical people to technology?

Microsoft's announcement on Tuesday of "Oslo" sounded impressive:  a planned model-based development platform for SOA and BPM. But there also was some bad news for Microsoft's SOA ambitions. It's SOA-as-Service offering, which it calls an ISB (Internet Service Bus), probably won't be available before 2009.

BEA Systems has some innovative technology and it's an important competitor in the SOA and application server markets. Customers are much better off if it stays independent, but that doesn't look likely.

Welcome to NWC's SOA Immersion Center. Here, we'll be analyzing news, technology and products that affect one of the most misunderstood areas in IT. Though we'll look at application integration in general, we have a particular emphasis on Web services and similar messaging architectures.

If Cisco Systems gets its way, data centers eventually will be replaced by virtual machines running somewhere on a switch or a router. It's spent the last 2 ½ years talking about the virtual data center, and in July this year made its boldest claim yet: that in the long term, virtualization will mean the end of physical servers.

Web-based communication and collaboration tools are supposed to make physical proximity irrelevant by letting employees work together regardless of where they happen to be. But when it comes to building—and investing in—those tools, it turns out proximity is relevant as ever.

Web 2.0 ventures have discovered a simple formula for success: encourage users' conceit that what they say, do and think is interesting enough to share with others. This is how Twitter, a hot startup, turns a stream of drivel into cold hard cash.

Earlier this week, editors from several of our sister publications attended the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.Co-presented by O'Reilly Media and our parent company CMP Technology, the Expo welcomed the business, design, technical and marketing professionals and experts who are leading the way in building the next generation of the Web. Taking part in the show were various industry icons, including Google's Eric Schmidt, Amazon's Jeffrey Bezos and Yahoo's Jeff Weiner. Workshops and conferences encouraged open communication and collaboration between attendees and presenters, making this event a unique opportunity for everyone.

Contributor Robert Hertzberg talks with Ted Farrell, chief architect for tools and middleware at Oracle, about the business value of implementing a service-oriented architecture.

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Chances are your organization is clamoring to jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon. Spurred by the popularity of slick applications such as Google Maps that look more like desktop apps than Web sites, Web
2.0-enabling technologies including Ajax and mashups are all the rage
right now.

But the reality is that Web 2.0 and RIA (Rich Internet Applications)
will dramatically change your infrastructure in terms of monitoring,
management, deployment and availability.

It's certainly a good idea to build security into your SOA, but once you've done that how do you know it's secure? And while you can certainly hope that you've achieved WS-I Basic Profile compliance, how do you know if you don't have a way to test for it?

Forum Systems thinks they have the answer...

If you're not yet convinced that the term "Web 2.0" has reached into the stratosphere of mega-hype, consider this: It just made the cover of Newsweek. So it's time to finally ban the term, because it's become the favorite of hypsters, pseudo techno-hipsters, and scamsters.