Cloud Security -Threat Agents

I wanted to share this discussion topic which I am currently taking in my cloud computing course.I am overwhelmed to receive superior content for this and thought must share it on my blog...

Describe the basic threat agents relevant to cloud computing, including: Anonymous Attacker, Malicious Service Agent, Trusted Attacker, and Malicious Insider.  Why is this an important Security Concern? 

The basic threat to cloud computing can be enumerated as Ease of Use, Secure Data Transmission, Insecure API’s, Malicious Insider, Shared Technology Issues, Data Loss, Data Breach, Account/Service Hijacking, Unknown Risk Profile, Denial of Service, Trusted Attacked, Anonymous Attacker, Malicious Service Agent and so on.

All these have a different way of intruding into the privacy or secure cloud platform but the end result of creating a security flaw/threat remains the same.

Below are few descriptions for threat agents:

1. Malicious Insiders: People related to an organization having details/access to their resources.
2. Insecure APIs: APIs are accessible anywhere on the Internet and malicious attackers can use them to compromise on confidentiality and integrity of enterprise customers.
3. Anonymous Attacker: on trusted threat agent that usually attacks from the outside of the cloud boundary.
4.   Malicious Service Agent: Able to intercept and forward the traffic that flows within the cloud.Trusted Attacker: Shares IT resources in the same environment as the consumer and attempts to exploit legitimate credentials. Also known as malicious tenants.

All these threats and agents pose a big concern as data and privacy can be exploited. This affects the people, organization and the business to a great extent. A small amount of modification to any of these is a huge risk to the individual and company. No one wants to lose data or be a victim of any bad circumstance and these threats I would say are widely known ones but one needs to dig to make sure unknown threats do no bind them in any way. Unknown threats can be realized based on the cloud model deployed and the security architecture built around it. Every organization should have Security concerns as their top priority to be able to carry out their day-to-day business actions smoothly. 

References:

• http://www.slideshare.net/AsmaaIbrahim2/fundamental-cloud-security
• http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/top-cloud-computing-threats-enterprise-environments/
• http://www.informationweek.com/cloud/infrastructure-as-a-service/9-worst-cloud-security-threats/d/d-id/1114085

Response to discussions on this topic

"Thanks for sharing your experience and yes security can be a far sight with our current ways of working.I agree that in our day to day work getting people adhere to certain security measures is painstaking.However I also feel this is a regional aspect.To give you an insight it is America and few more countries security is not given much weightage because of the fact things with cyber crime and other intrusions are on a scale which is not measured on a daily basis.In developing countries where security is an instinct by itself as every day one faces a attack in a small or big form.

Taking your scenario back in my place in India we used to lock computers once we step out of our desks in a software company and used passwords to open sensitive documents.Even payroll to view , you will have a long password which includes id's,birth and company details to unlock one pdf file.I used to hate it as every time I had to look up a number of mails to decode it.It is tough for my known facts to be accessed which goes to say security is inbuilt in a hard way and that is where we all should head to.

Very glad you brought this up as a balance has to be created which needs a lot of effort and others cooperation as well."

DevOps in the middle :What enterprise architects can learn

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These days enterprise architects work comprise of all structures and operations within an organization.It ranges from business operations to data analysis,classification,hardware and software areas.Enterprise Architects have also come into areas of application developemnt still they find them struggling with DevOps.

DevOps is designed to strengthen communication and collaboration between developers and IT operations to accelerate the development times and deliver quality applications.Many organizations are working towards implementing DevOps and to ask enterprise architects to factor in the discipline as they implement enterprise architecture within the organization.

Enterprise Architects understand the development and operations as well as structuring the organization and IT.However it is sometimes difficult to determine where to begin and work which way.The best approach is to start in middle i.e starting both ways and working towards it.Also it is known that development is measured by speed and creativity is rewarded.Operations is measured by stability and conformance and control as critical.

Measuring success requires a top down focus so enterprise architects needs to make sure upper management is involved.DevOps is best suited in enterprise architecture .Enterprise architects are in the business of defining conceptual blueprints that eliminate inefficiency and redundancy.All these set the stage for reaping DevOps benefits of improving organizations adaptibility and accelerating the development of applications. 

Constructs for Capturing Technology Modeling

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This articles introduces the technology layer and gives an overview of the main constructs available for modeling  technology architecture.The technology layer is split up into the following views of Conceptual:where we define the 'What',Logical:where we define the 'How',Physical.:captures the implementation and deployments of technology in the enterprise.

1. Conceptual:'What' technology capabilities are required to provide appropriate technology infrastructure.
• Technology Architecture Objective:A strategic goal associated
• Technology Architecture Principle:High level rules that govern the manner in which the technology capabilities are delivered.
• Technology Domain:Top level construct which provides a means of grouping technology.
• Technology Capability:What technology does what or needs to.
2. Logical:'How' the 'What' will be achieved.
• Technology Component:Describes the class of technology and what component is in the marketplace.
• Technology Function:Describes the functionality that a technology component or product can provide.
• Technology Provider:Captures a technology product or product build being used to provide components in the architecture.
• Technology Product Rule:A relationship class that enables more than one technology component.
3. Physical:Lowest level of abstraction and captures the instances of technology product.
• Technology Node:Captures the physical and virtual devices.The hostname is usually used as the name of the technology node.
• Technology Instance:A physical instance of an element.Technology Instance are sub-divided into the following:
• Application Software Instance
• Hardware Instance
• Technology Instance
• Infrastructure Software Instance
• Technology Deployment Group:Defines a template of the technology instance and node that are deployed on the node.The number of instances can be specified on the 'template'.

Clustering is a physical architecture decision that we capture in the Physical Technology Layer.How one models it depends on how the clustering technology works.This articles shows us the intricate details present in the technology layer and how it contributes to the modeling of technology.

5 Takeaways and Emerging Tech Trends From CES 2015

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This article talk about the consumers are moving towards the latest trends and the old used ways are or might go away with newer technology products coming into place.Some of the emerging trends are enlisted below.

1. Technology is a killing cable bundle:Cables are becoming something of the past.With online streaming services becoming more accessible with internet connectivity makes the cable forces to die sooner or later.A visibly seen picture of the fall of the cable is coming.
2. Connected is the new catchword:Without being connected we all feel lost or helpless.This is true without being connected through phones,laptops,smart watches,fit bits and more we cannot pass anyone in this world.Connectivity has revolutionized the whole concept of being on a platform to reach anyone anywhere around the world.
3. Your next care will be more of computer than a transportation device:The amount of electronics integrated is remarkable.Latest cars are trending to have more stable internet connection,satellite connectivity and automating the car itself.A smart car will become everyones necessity one day.
4. Tech has invade health,fitness and beauty:Panasonic has one of the coolest pieces of tech this year.A smart mirror screen which shows how your make up and appearance will look.
5. Apple is still the king of consumer electronic:I know this is a sensitive topic and some agree and disagree.Apple mac book air and smart watch are the top stories.

It is interesting to see how new gadgets come into the market and very soon they are outdated with emerging technology.For more read   Click Here...

Enterprise Architecture & Innovation Management

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The articles brings out the realm of having innovation management along with enterprise architecture to bring out a difference in the functioning of the business.Innovation management is effectively incorporating your organizations goals by adopting innovative ways ideas,products to maximize the value.The agile approach for EA is discussed.

Innovation is a means to get ahead of the usual working and go to the next level of creating something out of the ordinary and to be able to manage this is important.More and more organizations are moving towards agile and scrum processes for projects.EA is said to fail when targeting the entire organizations functions so agile approaches such as scrum can help to tackle the smaller pieces and specific issues.Innovation management shows users the concepts of the innovation lifecycle to improve visibility for the entire team.

It is seen that EA is not influencing innovation management effectively as it should as the innovation projects are not aligned to the transformational needs of the business.EA so far has influenced the process,business functions but needs more rigor for innovation trends.Innovation needs to be real and linking it to underlying EA to generate more ideas.Innovation management and agile enterprise architecture go hand in hand.Both are successful on their own but when brought together they can reap more consistent results and more governance over the ideas created.

Business Architecture is a part of Enterprise Architecture

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The article is about how EA is applicable only in IT though it is spread across stakeholders,business information,technology and solution architecture.There are wide gaps seen in the approach of developing EA.

Some of the gaps are:

• Developing a business context:
• The IT-Investment Decision Making process
• Creating a governance and assurance mechanism

Also a common trend seen is when EA conflates the business architecture viewpoint of EA.The business context of EA is said to be formed of A vision of the future state,an anchor model and a set of guiding principles.However it is a common mis interpretation of neglecting the business context,treating the business architecture as a separate entity and narrowing down EA to only IT.

Mature practitioners understand the business context and work towards relating it with EA.They focus on the interdependencies,the relationships and how it can drive the actual process.Also experienced personnel in this field look at the view that only when business architecture is engaged does assurance and governance come in place.It is indeed necessary to understand and go into details to see how every business action has a role to play with EA frame.It is sad to see people over look these at most instances but by setting practices it can be brought into picture.Thereby it will be a very good methodology to incorporate the business architecture well inside the enterprise architecture framework or rules to be played.

A Challenge to Enterprise Architects - Think Innovation

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The article highlights how Enterprise Architecture is used in many aspects of business but less thought to be a catalyst for innovation especially in the areas of SOA and cloud computing.EA is used as a measuring stick for SOA infrastructure and solutions.EA not only serves as a fundamental baseline for SOA elements but its capabilities can be extended to business process modeling,modeling,mobile and wireless.

There are three entry points into service-oriented architecture:

1. Business Process:Enabling an operation or agile process as a measuring tool to know if SOA is successful or not.
2. Governance:Aligning services to the business process and managing the services in the most streamlined and efficient way.
3. Web Services:Ea comprises of loads of artifacts which can be employed through information matrix exchange to build the web service to contribute the business goal

EA is being encouraged to become a competitive advantage and be a way to advance innovation which can optimize capabilities and minimize innovation.It serves as a means to utilize the business process as a criteria to build the services in SOA.Also using EA to determine which part of the business might be served by the cloud.

A very interesting read to know how EA is instrumental to drive the different forces of business and evolve innovation as a means to create alignment,governance and provide worthwhile services to the industry.

Differences between Architecture Roles

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People often confuse or don't find any difference between various Architect roles.However each role have their unique role to play in day to day work.In this article they have picked out the roles of Solution Architect,Technical Architect and Enterprise Architect.

There are three dimensions or axes that constitute the architecture roles:
1.Life cycle disciplines:Set of activities performed in a particular stage of project or program .
2.Level of details:Amount of specific details required to fulfill the objectives of the role.
3.Focus:A particular work stream where the above are relevant to.


Technical Architects:Main focus is on implementation technology.Works across projects and pays attention to the complete software lifecycle of the product.Requires hands-on knowledge on technology thereby specializing in a particular stream.
Solutions Architects:Overlooks the technical integrity and consistency of solutions in a project.The solution architect acts as a Project Manager for the project along with perceiving the technology related risks involved in the project.
Enterprise Architects:Concerned with the holistic view of the Information and technology within the enterprise.Responsible for whole set of life-cycle disciplines and prospective IT.


Technical Architect works within a solution,Solution Architect translates a problem to a solution and finally Enterprise Architect defines which problem need a solution.This articles gives a clear view of what each role comprises of.Informative for many who might not have direct experiences working with or for such roles.

Business Architects:Do not start with strategy

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 "Business architects start with the strategy of an organization.  They take that strategy and map it to the capabilities of the enterprise to clarify the capabilities that must be improved or matured in order to effectively execute."

This article ponders on how business  takes on working on strategy first which might not be fruitful.The best thing would be to have a business model in place and then work on building the strategy.The strategy is meaningful within context.Analyzing the organization's business model helps to determine what to expect and how to frame the needs of the business.This is where Strategy comes in role.The strategy directs the business model to help achieve the future business expectations.

     

Strategy depicts one of the two possibilities:

• Incremental improvements in the business model (cut costs a little more.  Improve customer satisfaction a little more.  etc), or
• Adding a new business model to the organization.

I agree that understanding the value of business is important and to layout a model to be able to put in place a methodology to work it out.But at the same time it might not work for all organizations.A intuitive and calculated decision might help in determining whether strategy comes first or after adopting a business model.

Launch of the Cybersecurity Framework

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The Obama administration announced the launch of the cyber security framework.The framework is a key deliverable from the Executive Order on “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity”  that President Obama announced in 2013.

The framework is said to provide existing global standards and practices to help organizations understand,communicate and manage their cyber risks.For the organizations that do not know where to start it serves as a roadmap.It also provides a better way to communicate with their CEO's and suppliers about cyber risks.

The framework components(the framework core,profiles and tiers) reinforces the connections between business drivers and cyber activities.The Framework Core is a set of activities and informative references-The activities are grouped into five segments:Identify,Protect,Detect,Respond,Recover.The Profiles can help organizations align cyber activities with business requirements,risk tolerances and resources.The Tiers provide a way to view their approach and processes for managing cyber security which range from Tier 1 Partial to Tier 4 Adaptive.

It is a good approach to help organizations build their security infrastructure.The Program is a voluntary one which helps organizations connect with companies and share experiences .The Critical Infrastructure Cyber Community (C3) Voluntary program will help increase awareness.It is interesting to find out how many organizations have got involved in this move and what effects it has brought to an organization.I will need to search more on this to see the effect.I am sure this is beneficial for many companies especially start-ups and small scaled to get support and build upon a framework for securing their environment.

Defining an Enterprise-wide Security Framework

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This article defines the knowledge management system -the Enterprise  Security Architecture System  (ESAS) developed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.The ESAS is primarily built upon the PPT(People,Policy & Technology).

What is PPT methodology?

PPT methodology can be depicted in the
form of the venn diagrams showing the 
controls as three core elements. If the issue is broken down into the three core elements, action items can be determined for each core element. In this manner, control coverage can be moved from one element to two, and ultimately to coverage by all of the elements.

Understanding the Security Framework:

The Information security framework provides the overall model for developing comprehensive security programs.The framework illustrates an enterprise approach for security.
The key elements, also referred to as the "Four Pillars" to Information Security, include:

• Solid Senior Management Commitment
• An overall Security Vision and Strategy
• A comprehensive Training and Awareness Program
• A solid Information Security Management Structure including key skill sets and documented responsibilities

                     

This indeed serves as a good base to frame a security model for any organization.Keeping the phases as a guideline to incorporate the business functions and levels of security will serve to make a difference in protecting the organization's valuable assets and enable the security team to work on improving every bit of the model.                                                                                                                         

          

Seven Data and Information Security Mistakes

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In an IT organization security is the top priority and every organization is working towards building a 100% secure network.99.9999% still means the organization is not secure.This article talks about the common security mistakes seen in an organization.It is usually the common traps that can be easily avoided.

1. Securing Only Networks:It is also important to secure the endpoints.
2. Not aligning Security with Business Goals:Seccurity projects are just addressed as one among a workflow but not considered to be a revenue generating project so overlooked most of the times.
3. Not changing passwords often : or Tracking Access:Passwords need to be changed especially when there is any change in the organization like when an employee leaves the company.
4. Not knowing where the Data is:It is essential to know the data location to know what kind of threats can harm it.Also to know the security efforts put in.
5. Not vetting encryption used by vendors:The U.S. Government requires FIP-140-2 encryption for data and validated.The government considers data encrypted by this method as plain text which can pose unnecessary risks.
6. Neglecting Data Governance:Everyone needs to know who can access what data.Policies should be reviewed and followed on how to control the data.Also evaluate the entire process.
7. Not Disclosing Data Breaches:It is very important to let everyone involved with the organization to know about such breaches.It enables everyone to be more cautious and work together to protect 

I think the main aspect of making sure to disable accounts from previous employees and make sure the applications passwords need to be changed.The company I worked previously never changed passwords and always wondered how this could not be a addressed in anyway.But once it got acquired to a bigger company they had password policies but still employees never got the concept of security is my feel.

Data Virtualization

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This article highlights the basics of data virtualization to somehow who wants to know about it and also mentions about the capabilities.Data virtualization is the process of handling data without diving into the technical aspects of it.The technical aspects of data include the location,storage structure,technology involved.It is used to describe any approach to data management that allows applications to retrieve and manipulate data.

Data Virtualization Illustrated to help visualize the actual process:

                         

Data virtualization uses the concept of data abstraction which is the process of reduction of characteristics to make it a simplified representation of the whole system.This methodology helps in helping make decisions faster,improves operational efficiency,quality,increases revenue and lowers cost.

Data Virtualization enables the technology with the following capabilities:

1. Abstraction
2. Virtualized Data Access
3. Transformation/Integration
4. Data Federation
5. Flexible Data Delivery

Data virtualization also addresses requirements for data security,data quality,governance and optimization.I have worked on data from a technical support side and have seen the usage of data virtualization.We have applications like an administrative front end which enables us or the users to look at their managed data and make changes by simply clicking,modifying and importing data for updates similar to ETL functions.The back end is where data virtualization gets into effect by the developers handling the database design aspects.This is very helpful to customers and other people who want to have front end access but also be able to control data to some extent.I see this technology to be widely used in various forms across different organizations.

Reference:

• http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/guest_session/2009/12/putting-data-to-work-for-cloud-bpm-mdm-and-soa-projects.php
• http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/data-abstraction

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

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This article brings out the simple features of Enterprise Resource Planning( ERP) and how it can be visualized.In a nutshell ERP software tries to integrate all different departments and functions of an organization into a single computer system to serve the various needs of the departments.The purpose of this system being the free flow exchange of information across the various business functions within the organization and connects with outside stakeholders.It seems a herculean task to get all individual units on board on a system.But with the help of an integrated  approach this can be made feasible.
Below one can see the differences between a non-integrated system and an integrated one.


                                    

ERP system is a complex one during the implementation phase but by spending quality time and investment it adds a lot of value to the business.ERP helps in accurate forecasting,integrating leading to effective communication and planning.ERP can be expensive initially but once the system is running can expect to minimize costs and be effective.However one needs to take precautions to make sure ERP is done the right way otherwise might cost a fortune.

Network Infrastrcuture - Out Dated?

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This article talks about the Network Infrastructure that exists and needs a makeover all together to keep it up and running.The routers and switches that exist are running old versions and also quite insecure.It is interesting to see how the networks have passwords which provide full access to the administrator and whoever has access to the routers and switches.They seem to have the very first versions running which have security flaws and when updated to a version 2 they get to a security level which is still not very secure.Even after updating all the network devices the firmwares seem to not be on the current versions.

The network infrastructure is a very important aspect for an IT organization and one needs to be on their toes to make sure it is updated from time to time.At some cases this might not seem feasible until a project is taken up and worked to make this update-able on a regular basis.This is a repetitive process and regular feeds will help to keep the network infrastructure current and incase of failures there is a plan in place.Considering to employ support staff and also engage consultants will be worth the money and effort.

I believe Network fails the company fails.If Security fails everything fails.These are inter related and it is the organizations top most priority to keep their Networks intact and work towards building a reliable and secure infrastructure to be able to build upon their business overall.

Big Data as a Competitive Advantage

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 Everyone is talking about big data and so I looked into articles to see what it actually means and what is the hype about it.Big data is well defined as the three V's : Volume of data ,Velocity of streaming data and Variety of formats of data.Some extend the dimensions to be Variability as data flow can be inconsistent and Complexity to manage or transform data forms.The challenge lies in handling the Big data to be optimized and used effectively.

The use of big data is becoming the key way for leading companies to outperform their peers.However the problems being faced are on the rise.The data being in binary formats require approaches to identify and report the actual content and form patterns to enable the user to see what it means.It is surprising to see that data need not be 100% perfect.However the outlook to this according to Gartner is that  to use the term "Linked data" to describe a data quality process when sampling large data volumes.Linked data is the data from various sources that has a relationship to each other and maintains the context to be useful to the user.

 Large companies seem to be investing a lot on this.However practically it is possible even for small companies to afford this by accessing applications that are available on the cloud.Big data seems to be the next hot technology fix for businesses.Do you agree?Atleast I believe it will be on the market as every companies tag line may be more,who knows what is next...

Reference:

• http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/big-data/what-is-big-data.html

Data Management and Architecture: Services Overview

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It is always nice to read on Data and how it serves as an important key in every functionality.Without data there is no information.How to manage this data to be able to provide a technology that is worth a million?It requires investments and putting the processes and people in place to manage all the aspects of data life cycle.

Organizations are tending to realize the importance of data management and architecture as it is required for making decisions,carrying out activities and creating models that help build business processes.There are a few questions to ponder upon:

• Have you received tonnes of data and has it all been in the same format?
• Have you encountered a situation where you refer to a term and someone refers to it differently?
• Have you seen organizations use the same terminology for their data models,Do other people from various units comprehend it?

To be able to manage data ,the data architecture should provide a structure,holistic approach that delivers offering, support clients in managing data.Data Management helps in reducing inherent risks with data quality,improves productivity,improves customer satisfaction and performance.

Here is Accenture's Data Management & Architecture into following domains:

Data Governance	The human organization to manage and oversee data
Data Structure	The definition of data
Data Architecture	The storage, movement and retrieval of data
Master Data Management	The maintenance of consistent core data throughout an enterprise and with business partners
Metadata	The management of data definitions and information about data
Data Quality	The accuracy, completeness and legal compliance of data
Data Security	The protection of data and the authorization to use it

I think these six capabilities form a solid framework though I think every other company might have something better.Does any other company manage data with maturity?This may not be the ultimate to manage data but I feel this gives a clear view on what to expect in creating a Data model to be able to manage and architect the organizations information well.

Web Application into the Cloud Architecture

Source : “We are getting data from the cloud”

I found this article to give a clear understanding of Web applications and Cloud Architecture.This helps us visualize the concept in real terms.To understand the concept it is important to know that all data retrieved from a web browser does not come from the cloud.Web applications and Cloud computing are correlated but not one and the same.

Web Application:

                                    

Web application Architecture consists of a web server eg:Apache , logic layer executing the requests in a desired manner and backend database.The architecture normally resides on the physical layer.


Web Application To Cloud Architecture:

       

Web applications needs a middle ware to transform into cloud architecture. The middle ware is the load balancer which helps to distribute the workload across multiple servers.It requires some hardware and software executing algorithm to perform.As seen in the figure cloud architecture requires multiple resources interacting to deliver the application.

This article gives a view on how one can look at web applications.I do work on web apps and never thought the need to think in this way.Probably by default I took it for granted that anything hosted online either came from the cloud or just did not want to use the cloud technology.This gives a nice picture to see what to expect in current world where cloud is taking over applications.

Enterprise architecture best practices for Agile development

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This article highlights the best practices to be incorporated in an organization to bring in Agile processes to make Enterprise Architecture function effectively.There seems to be a correlation of successes for enterprise architecture when teams work collaboratively to understand what the architectural vision is and can help actively build it.The key best practice is for the architect to focus on architectural principles and make sure everyone in the team understands it.People then tend to see value in the EA architecture and are able to communicate as well as provide feedback on it.

Another important aspect than just not focusing on communicating is to work towards building an agile process environment.The architects get involved with the team and also attend scrum meetings to give direction and more knowledge on artifacts .This gives the development team the opportunity to address things that are not in accordance with the architectural principles.This also gives a strong focus on architectural requirements and non-functional requirements.

I believe this holds good in lot of cases.In organizations, I have worked previously it is seen that Agile processes are well in place and followed.However this works for project levels or one higher level.They do not work in collaboration and I would say no one thinks or is aware of how it matches with the high level architecture picture.I think these steps might help bring us one step closer to realize the key aspects of minute changes made in the work cycle.

EA Employed

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Have you ever thought about employing an Enterprise Architect to your organization?What are the skills you are looking for and how would you approach this?Some organizations might have a career path in place with a set of qualifications and experiences required to be an Enterprise Architect while some organizations have no clue what to look for.Who is right?
This article discusses on what everyone is running behind and how they might fall short on key aspects on choosing an Enterprise Architect.The EA position should encompass technical and strategic skills but also innovative and practical.Cloud,data,services and mobility are shaking up the stack and the steps that can be taken as a CIO to mitigate the challenges and build a successful EA function :

• Lookout for blended technology executives
• Make them as senior as you can
• Balance their work

From what I have noticed it is true EA executives have the broad range of skills but something definitely lacks in each case.It is either the organization is unable to utilize their potentials or the candidates working towards the EA modules are more technical driven and often confuse the EA aspects to be far related from business but more software focused.It is not true in all cases there are scenarios where well qualified architects are taking up roles to lead the organization and bring about a remarkable transformation.So the selection process should define the expectations and experiences required to make sure an Enterprise Architect is well placed.

EA Layered

Source: http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/ea_matters/2013/12/enterprise-architecture-deserves-layers.php
         
This article on EA matters gives us a picture on of how Enterprise Architecture represents the entire organization and the importance of layers that form the system.Every organization has a different description of the areas that form their layers.Also the representation of each layer will be modified to match the needs of the company.
The Layers that are most commonly seen in an organization are the Business and Technology Layer.In this reading we see the other layer to be the People's layer and there a pattern between these layers.

   

Business Layer: Functional structure and Operations for the enterprise
Technology Layer: Resources that implement the operations of the business layer
People Layer: Depicts the human resource of the organization executing the processes in the business layer and applications in the technology layer.

Information is said to be abstract in the business layer and stored and processed in the other layers.

This is a little different approach than the widely known layers of having the Business,Applications,Data and Technology layers.After reading the main source : http://weblog.tetradian.com/2013/12/11/on-layers-in-ea/ for this article makes it clear that enterprise architecture and its layers is adopted in organizations to best suit their needs and every architect has a different prespective to see what fits well for their functioning.It is thereon interesting to see how our naked eyes can assume things and see what we want to see rather than what the actual picture depicts.

"Perception is the key to model an enterprise in the way one perceives to achieve"

Here is a short video on how things might appear different and the viewpoints can change for every organization.

SOA - Service Oriented Architecture

What is SOA?

The Service Oriented architecture as the name suggests provides the service for various business/applications at a time instead of dis jointly working.It generates the interface for various systems. SOA is a pattern or technique to facilitate the service for these applications on various systems.

Source:   Click Here

It is an interesting read to see how SOA along with EA in an enterprise can consist of application services,information resources and technology infrastructure.The SOEA is said to provide the data services also.Data services are the key to sustain any form of architecture.In any organization having a built architecture or looking to move to a new architecture has data to be transferred to the new system.The concept of enterprise data service needs to address the data knowledge,sharing,search,mining,storage considering the various factors.This services helps in building the infrastructure overall.The infrastructure formed by EA makes the enterprise form the same in the lines of business.


                                                    



SOA often faces the challenges of  "What application services are needed?" and "What services best suit an enterprise?".This is where EA plays a major role of building the infrastructure for these services by providing an overall view of the business rather than following the stovepipe and limiting it to each line of business.The new way of SOA approach is to have an Infrastructure to connect to any IT resources,its technology and wherever it is deployed.
It is important to know the applications need to blend into the enterprise functions to be able to provide customized services and form a solid frame to maintain the infrastructure for a sustained time frame.

I see how SOA and EA can bring about a vast change in developing application architecture along with technology infrastructure and data resources.Also here is a Video on SOA,I thought this might be a nice view to see SOA work.

References:

• http://www.enterprise-architecture.info/Images/Services%20Oriented%20Enterprise/EA_Service-Oriented-Architecture1.htm
• https://bsacca.wordpress.com/