Latest News from JAVA Developer's Journal

Contrary Opinion: Is Java the One Ring to Rule Them All?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:33:00 EDT

Today, Chuck Phillips, president of Oracle, said that Oracle was committed to provide “A Single Stack of Technology to Simplify Enterprise IT”. In order for a “Single Stack” to successfully simplify IT, Enterprise Software practitioners must commit their entire Enterprise Architecture to a single vendor.

High Performance and Grid Computing in the Cloud

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EDT

The HPCcloud discussion group has been created in order to address the growing interest in High Performance Computing and Grid Computing in the Cloud. The purpose of this group is to present experiences and scenarios by individuals, organizations and projects to illustrate how Cloud computing can enhance the different types of distributed and high performance computing infrastructures in science and engineering.

Oracle Adds Zest to SQL Developer with Standalone Data Modeling Tool

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:45:00 EDT

The whole SQL databases and associated tools and modeling ecosystem is ripe for tumult. My best guess is that Oracle's pending Sun Microsystems purchase will provide offense via MySQL, and the associated community, to target the Microsoft SQL Server franchise.

Dialog Boxes, Habituation, and Single Threaded Thought

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:15:00 EDT

In Jef Raskin’s excellent book, The Humane User Interface, he discusses how the human brain is able to perform many tasks simultaneously while only having the ability to focus on one conscious thought at a time. Being able to process information and analyze it intelligently is crucial to our ability to solve problems, but once we have learned how to deal with a particular situation, just as vital is our ability to remember and recall the response without thinking.

Stress & Load Testing Web Apps (Even ADF & Apex) Using Apache JMeter

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EDT

A couple of years ago I presented Take a load off! Load testing your Oracle Apex or JDeveloper web applications at OOW and AUSOUG. I can't recommend enough the importance of stress testing your web applications, it's saved my bacon a number of times. Frequently as developers, we develop under a single user (developer) model where concurrency issues are easily avoided. When our programs hit production, with just 1 more user, suddenly our programs grind to a halt or fall over in bizarre places. Result, pie on developers' faces, users' faith in new technologies destroyed, and general gnashing of teeth all round. Some simple stress and load tests can head off problems way before they hit production.

(For the remainder of this post I'll infer "stress testing" and "load testing" as the same thing, though strictly speaking one tests for your application falling over, and the other how fast it responds under load)

So how to go about stress testing a web application?

There are numerous tools available to stress test web applications, paid and free. This post will look at the setup and use of Apache's JMeter, my tool of choice, mainly because it is free! ... to undertake a very simple stress test. Apache JMeter is available here, version 2.3.3 at time of writing.

On starting JMeter (<jmeter-home>/bin/jmeter.bat on Windows) you'll see the following:

Creating a Thread Group

From here what we want to do is set up a Thread Group that simulates a number of users (concurrent sessions), done by right clicking the Test Plan node -> Thread Group option. This results in:

As you can see the Thread Group allows us to set a number of threads to simulate concurrent users/sessions, loop through tests and more.

Creating HTTP Requests

From here we can create a number of HTTP requests (Test Plan node right click -> Add -> Sampler -> HTTP Requests) to simulate each HTTP request operation (Get, Post etc), HTTP headers, payloads and more. However in a standard user session between server and browser there can be a huge array of these requests and configuring these HTTP requests within JMeter would be a major pain.

Configuring the HTTP Proxy Server

However there's an easier way. Apache JMeter can work as a proxy between your browser and server and record a user's HTTP session, namely the individual HTTP requests, that can be re-played in a JMeter Thread Group later.

To set this up instead right click the Workbench node, Add -> Non-Test Elements -> HTTP Proxy Server:

To configure the HTTP Proxy Server do the following:

* Port – set to a number that wont clash with an existing HTTP server on your PC (say 8085)
* Target Controller – set to "Test Plan > Thread Group". When the proxy server records the HTTP session between your browser and server, this setting implies the HTTP requests will be recorded against the Thread Group you created earlier, so we can reuse them later
* URL Patterns to include – a regular expression based string that tells the proxy server which URLs to record, and those to ignore. To capture everything set it to .* (dot star). Be warned that during recording however, if you use your browser for anything else but accessing the server you wish to stress test, JMeter will also capture that traffic. This includes periodic refreshes by web applications such as Gmail or Google Docs that you don't even initiate; I'm pretty sure when replaying your stress test, Google would prefer you not to stress test their infrastructure for them; stick to your own for now ;-)

The end HTTP Proxy Server setting will look something like this:

You'll note the HTTP Proxy Server has a Start button. We can't use this just yet.

Configuring your Browser

In order for the JMeter HTTP Proxy Server to capture the traffic between your server and browser, you need to make some changes to your browser's configuration. I'm assuming you're using Firefox 3 in the following example, but same approximate steps are needed for Internet Explorer.

Under Firefox open the Tools -> Options menu, then Advanced icon, Network tab, Settings button which will open the Connection Settings dialog.

In the Connection Settings dialog set the following:

* Select the Manual proxy configuration radio button
* HTTP Proxy – localhost
* Port – 8085 as per the JMeter HTTP Proxy Server option we set earlier
* No Proxy for – ensure that localhost and 127.0.0.1 aren't in the exclusion list

The above setup makes an assumption that the server you want to access is accessibly without a further external proxy required.

Recording your HTTP session

Once the browser's proxy is setup, to record a session between the browser and server do the following:

1) In Apache JMeter hit the Start button on the HTTP Proxy Server page
2) In your browser enter the URL of the first page in the application you want to stress test

Thereafter as you navigate your web application, enter data and so on, JMeter will faithfully record each HTTP request between the browser in server against your Thread Group. This may not be immediately obvious, but expand the Thread Group and you'll see each HTTP request made from the browser to server:

As can be seen, even visiting 1 web page can generate a huge amount of traffic. Ensure to stop recording the HTTP session by selecting the Stop button in the JMeter HTTP Proxy Server page.

Configuring the Thread Group for replay

Once you've recorded the session in the Thread Group there are a couple of extra things we need to achieve.

For web application's that use Cookies and session IDs (JDeveloper's ADF uses a JSessionID for tracking sessions) to track each unique user session, we cannot replay the exact HTTP request sequence with the server through JMeter, as the session ID is pegged to the recorded session, not the upcoming stress test sessions.

To solve this in JMeter right click the Thread Group -> Add -> Config Element -> HTTP Cookie Manager. This will be added as the last element to the Thread Group. I usually move it to the top of the tree:

Next we need to configure the Thread Group to show us the results of the stress test. There are a number of different ways to do this, from graphing the responses, to showing the raw HTTP responses. In this post we'll take the later option.

Right click the Thread Group -> Add -> Listener -> View Results in Tree, which will add a View Results in Tree node to the end of the Thread Group:

Finally save the Thread Group by selecting it in the node tree, then File -> Save.

Running the Thread Group

To commence your first stress test run, it's best to leave the number of spawned sessions to 1, just to see the overall test will work in it's most basic form. The default Thread Group number of threads is set to 1, so there is no need to make a change to do this.

To run the test, simply select the Run menu -> Start. On running the Thread Group, you'll see the top right of JMeter has a little box that tells if it's still running, and the number of tests to go vs total number of tests:

Once the tests are complete, this indicator will grey out.

We can now visit the View Results Tree:

This shows the HTTP requests that were sent out and on selecting an individual request, you see the raw HTTP request and the actual response. You'll note the small green triangles showing a successful HTTP 200 result. If different HTTP errors occur the triangles show different colours. Also remember that sometimes application errors don't perculate up to the HTTP layer in your web application, so you should check your application's logs too (in the case of a JEE application, this will be your container's internal logs).

Running a Stress Test

The obvious step from here is to change the Thread Group number of threads to a higher number.

From here take time out to explore the other features in JMeter. It includes a wide range of features that in particular make it useful for regression testing.

Caveats

Firstly remember when doing this you're not only stress testing your application, your stress testing a server, potentially stress testing databases, stress testing your networks and so on. Therefore you can have an affect on anybody sharing those resources. "Hard core" stress tests should be on separate infrastructure, after hours, aiming for as little impact on those around you!

Also keep in mind, besides seeing your application fall over at 2 users, 10 users, 100 users, which is an important test, try to be realistic about your stress tests. Stress testing you're brand-new-application to a 1 million concurrent users is probably not being realistic. How many concurrent user requests do you really expect and what response times do you need? Normally when I ask managers this question they'll answer with, "oh we have 1000 concurrent users, the application must support that many at any one time". However what they really mean is the application has 1000 users, potentially all logged into the application (ie. sessions) at the same time, but not necessarily hitting the server with HTTP requests at any onetime.

Compuware Goes Agile with Changepoint

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EDT

At the Project Portfolio Management Summit in California on June 15, Compuware unveiled a juiced-up version of its IT portfolio management solution, Changepoint, identifying agile development and delivery as key components of increasing value to customers over the next 12 likely-recessionary months.

Sun Announces Major Update to Sun Studio Compilers and Tools Software

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Sun Microsystemshas announced that Sun(TM) Studio 12 Update 1, a major upgrade to its software compiler and tools technology, is freely available for download at http://developers.sun.com/sunstudio. Sun Studio software provides an advanced suite of tools for the Solaris(TM) 10 Operating System (OS), OpenSolaris(TM), the next generation of the Solaris OS, and leading Linux platforms, including parallelizing compilers, powerful debuggers, advanced thread and performance analysis tools, and highly-tuned libraries that help simplify the creation of high-performance applications and provide an optimized development environment for the latest multi-core x86 and SPARC(R)-based systems.

An Itty-Bitty Chip Could Slash a Data Center’s Energy Bill

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:15:00 EDT

Imagine a data center chock full of heterogeneous equipment and running hot. That should be an easy exercise since they all are. But now it’s important to stop the waste and reduce energy consumption. Where do you start? Well, it might be nice to whittle the problem down to size and figure out what in that sea of servers and whatnot are the biggest offenders.

OpenXava 3.1.3: Productivity and Flexibility for Java EE

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:45:00 EDT

OpenXava 3.1.3 is a framework to develop Java Enterprise applications in a different way: OpenXava avoids MVC. It's a JPA Application Engine in that you provide only your POJOs annotated with JPA and you obtain an application ready for production.

Dell Believed on Acquisition Trail

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:15:00 EDT

Dell now has ~$10 billion in its jeans to spend on an acquisition or two. It raised another billion this week selling bonds. That’s the second time in two months it’s sold debt, not something it’s done much of in years past. It also has IBM’s poached M&A chief David Johnson, but since IBM sued him to enforce his non-compete he’s off “studying the company” while a court decides if and when he can practice his skills.

Whatever Happened to JAAS?

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:15:00 EDT

Introduced in 1995, Java has firmly established itself as a mature mainstream programming language for enterprises. The Java platform security model has evolved over the years to meet new requirements, and today enterprise Java developers have a large number of APIs and services to choose from to fulfill their security needs.

Cloud Adoption Intiative Circles Globe

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:00:00 EDT

A global, multiple data center, open-source test bed for the advancement of cloud computing research, Open Cirrus was started last summer by HP, Intel Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. The goal is to “promote open collaboration among industry, academia and governments by removing the financial and logistical barriers to research in data-intensive, Internet-scale computing,” the founders say.

Oracle’s Secret Plan for Sun

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:00:00 EDT

If Oracle hasn’t been exactly forthcoming with its reportedly three-year plan for Sun, it’s because it’s still trying to figure out exactly what it is. Like what it’s really going to do about the Sparc chip, for instance. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who’s orchestrating things even if co-president Chuck Phillips is nominally in charge of integration from the Oracle side, is reportedly determined to exploit the cloud phenomenon and turn Oracle-Sun into a cloud-based company by making sure he’s got Oracle’s whole software stack on network-based appliances built by Sun.

Second Bidder Upsets Micro Focus-Borland Deal

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:15:00 EDT

Last week while EMC was distracting everybody by one-upping NetApp in a hostile play for Data Domain, Micro Focus was saying sotto voce that a mystery company, described as a financial buyer, had trumped its $75 million cash offer for Borland.

SOA & Cloud Bootcamp: Who Ya Gonna Call? Cloudbusters!

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EDT

As the theme tune to the classic 1984 Ghostbusters movie goes, "If there's something strange, in your neighborhood, Who ya gonna call?", I am left wondering what we'll all be singing (shouting?) when something goes wrong in our cloud world. When you've got your whole business in the cloud and there is an outage, just what happens to your bottom line? What happens to your customers? What do you do?

How to Monetize Social Media

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:45:00 EDT

According to Casey Coffman, CEO of Coffman Group (www.coffmangroup.com), "No one with any intelligence will continue to buy this stuff (social media) without the resources to track sales conversions. We want the real ROI, not the one that marketers invented to continue their spending with CFOs. Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings (www.jenningspr.net), and I know with the right social media marketing and proprietary social media selling process, we will combine the best of both worlds," explained Coffman.

JavaOne 2009 "Weird" Says the Father of Java

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:00:00 EDT

"This was another amazing JavaOne," wrote James Gosling in his first post-conference blog. "It was also the weirdest: between the Oracle situation, the global meltdown, and the financial situation, it was very different." Sun nearly panicked, Gosling admits, fearing that "no one would show up. Almost every company that usually sends a crowd of people to JavaOne had travel restrictions that meant that few could attend." But all went well in the end.

The Trials of Software Testing

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EDT

Software testing while one of the most important tasks done in a development project is often misunderstood and abused by everyone from programmers and managers to testers. Wikipedia calls testing “an empirical investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under testing, with respect to the context in which it is intended to operate.”

Improving Collaboration to Achieve Desired Business Outcomes

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:30:00 EDT

IBM has announced new products and services to help organizations more effectively align their business strategies with their investments in software. The new offerings are designed to help clients lower costs and reduce risks by providing increased visibility into the status of software projects and the ability to monitor and improve the performance of these investments. Additionally, IBM will be previewing several of its software delivery products in a cloud environment, giving clients an early look at how they can minimize costs while freeing up resources for investments in new projects.

How Do We Respond to Change? (Buyers Are People, Too.)

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:30:00 EDT

In the 21st century, the U.S. Labor Dept. predicts that today's learner will have over 10 jobs by the time they are 38. Being able to adapt to changing conditions in your job status and the status of your buyers is an important strength in 2009.

Anatomy of a Java Finalizer

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:45:00 EDT

A couple of patterns that could cause Java heap exhaustion were identified from years of research at IBM. One interesting scenarios was observed when Java applications generate excessive amount of finalizable objects whose classes have non-trivial Java finalizers. A Java finalizer performs finalization tasks for an object. It’s the opposite of a Java constructor, which creates and initializes an instance of a Java class.

China Requires a Censorship Wall on All PCs

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:45:00 EDT

An ostensibly priggish Chinese government has mandated that all PCs sold in the country ship with a special piece of anti-pornography censorship software starting July1. It’s being received as hard-core government control over what the Chinese access over the Internet.

JavaOne 2009: Open Source Project Stonehenge

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:30:00 EDT

Microsoft and Sun recently announced their Open Source Project Stonehenge at the JavaOne conference. Stonehenge is a reference implementation that shows how to bridge the two major development platforms Java and .NET using Web Services. This initiative definitely puts the spotlight on heterogeneity and the challenges that come with it. Interoperability on the platform level is [...] Related posts:

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Ellison at JavaOne: Myths About JavaFX, Android, and J2ME

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:50:00 EDT

At JavaOne, Larry Ellison has made some very encouraging statements about Oracle’s commitments to Java, JavaFX, and the mobile developer market. It is certainly good news that Oracle (i.e., Larry) sees the significance of the Java platform in its integrality. However, there are many misunderstandings about the relationship between Java, JavaFX, and Android that even confuse the new Java owner. Here are some clarifications.

Using the IBM Thread & Monitor Dump Analyzer for Java Technology

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:45:00 EDT

We can visualize resource starvation using an elaborate rendition of the Dining Philosophers Problem. This classic metaphor of resource allocation among processes was first introduced in 1971 by Edsger Dijkstra in his paper “Hierarchical Ordering of Sequential Processes.” It’s been a model and universal method for verifying theories on resource allocation ever since.

Sun’s JavaOne 2009: Business As Usual

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:15:00 EDT

New product announcements this year included JavaFX 1.2, which includes new cross platform User Interface (UI) controls, faster application start-up, streaming media support and other performance enhancements across desktop, browser and mobile.

1st Annual Government IT Expo: Call for Papers Deadline July 15

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:15:00 EDT

SYS-CON announces the Call for Papers for the 1st Annual Government IT Conference & Expo (GovITExpo), to be held October 6, 2009 in Washington, DC. Submissions are welcomed from exceptional speakers who are also Infrastructure, architecture, and software engineering experts who have first-hand experience in the development, procurement or implementation of IT for Government or Federal agencies.

Sun’s Java Store in Private Beta

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EDT

Sun talked up its promised new Apple-beholden Java Store at JavaOne. It said a private beta was underway and would open to all U.S.-based Java users later this year. It also said that developers can begin submitting Java SE- and JavaFX-based applications to a Java Warehouse for distribution in the Java Store.

Live from JavaOne - The Cloud Growing Up?

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 06:15:00 EDT

I already listened to a couple of talks on the cloud. The whole cloud topic start to grow up, meaning more and more application scenarios for the cloud are appearing.

Gartner Predicts 2009: The Evolving Open Source Software Model

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:45:00 EDT

The influence of open source continues to expand across software markets. As open source becomes increasing ubiquitous, new patterns are emerging that will have a profound effect on adopter IT strategies and on the model itself. This white paper from Actuate will look at how open source is evolving the software industry in numerous ways.

SYS-CON White Paper: Actuate’s Rich Information Deployment Platform

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:05:00 EDT

The majority of information delivery approaches fail to meet two core requirements of success, scaling while adding features and adapting to changing requirements. Learn about an Enterprise Reporting Application Platform that meets the business reporting and analysis needs of any user in an organization, any partner and any customer outside the firewall, within the context of a business-specific application experience. To learn more download this White Paper by Actuate now!

Configuring JDBC in Oracle JDeveloper

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:45:00 EDT

The Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) API is used to access a SQL database from a Java application. JDBC also supports tabular data sources, such as a spreadsheet. Oracle JDeveloper is a free Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for modeling, developing, debugging, optimizing, and deploying Java applications.

In Argentina, J2ME Embedded Database Helps Workers Connect via Smartphone

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:49:00 EDT

In a major upgrade to its software as a service (SaaS) that connects companies with their field workforces, Argentina's Movimiento ATM has integrated the Perst Lite Java embedded database from McObject® in client software for roaming employees' BlackBerry, Nokia and other popular smartphones.

JavaOne 2009 - Highlights Live from Day One

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:45:00 EDT

JavaOne 2009 officially started with the opening Keynote delivered by Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems. The keynote included several announcements and demos presented by partners and customers of Sun. Here are some highlights...

Sun Achieves Major Milestone with New Release of OpenSolaris

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:00:00 EDT

Sun Microsystems has announced the latest release of the OpenSolaris 2009.06 operating system, delivering industry leading features in networking, storage and virtualization, along with significant performance enhancements and developer productivity updates. Central to the new release is the inclusion of Project Crossbow, a networking technology development.

Sun To Build Clouds

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EDT

Sun means to go into the cloud building business Monday. It’s supposed to announce a new portfolio of professional services aimed at businesses of all sizes called the Cloud Strategic Planning Service at the CommunityOne West conference in San Francisco

Xandros Discusses Application Stores and Ecosystems

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:08:00 EDT

Xandros today announced that key staff will present a birds-of-a-feather session on using standard Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) technologies to maximize maintainability on Application Stores projects at the Sun JavaOne conference, Moscone Center, San Francisco, June 2, 2009. With the explosion of new mobile computing platforms, from smartphones to netbooks to e-book readers, an application store is no longer optional. It is a key contributor to the success of a platform.

There's Still a Ton Going On at Sun: Sun CEO

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:30:00 EDT

Sun's Project Vector, which will be launched at JavaOne this week as the Java Store, is a network service to connect companies of all sizes and types to the roughly one billion Java users all over the world. According to Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz it "has the potential to deliver the world's largest audience to developers and businesses leveraging Java and JavaFX."

justAd.TV to Showcase Sun Java Media Client

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:30:00 EDT

Tel Aviv based start-up justAd.TV today announced the successful interoperability of the justAd.TV STB Agent with the Sun Java Media Client software. This interoperability allows TV providers to easily insert embedAds(TM), justAd.TV's wide variety of new ad formats, into non-linear TV viewer experiences such as VOD and PVR, without requiring changes or upgrades to the video delivery network.

Elastic Grid BoF at JavaOne 09

Sat, 30 May 2009 13:37:00 EDT

Dennis Reedy will do a joint-presentation with one of our customers, Ronald Bowers, working for the Army Research Lab, during JavaOne 09. This BoF is schedule on Wednesday, June, 3rd at 7:45pm. Here is the abstract of the session called Cloud Computing and NetBeans™ IDE Enable Army Research Lab’s Next-Generation Simulation System. This presentation provides an overview of how the [...]

Teradata Developer Exchange Connects Digital Data Warehouse Community

Thu, 28 May 2009 09:45:00 EDT

Teradata Corporation has announced the Teradata Developer Exchange, a web site which supports a thriving and dynamic online data warehouse development community. It connects Teradata engineers, customers, partners and academics who are building and deploying solutions based on the market-leading Teradata platforms and database.

Sun GlassFish Enterprise Service Bus: The Lightweight ESB

Thu, 28 May 2009 06:00:00 EDT

An enterprise service bus (ESB) forms the backbone of SOA deployments and is the efficient successor to point-to-point architectures. Selecting the ESB for a SOA project is an important part of the planning stage. With an increased shift toward lean and agile software development, businesses are looking for improved time-to-market and efficiency at reduced costs.

SYS-CON Webcast: AJAX Push Techniques for Better Data Visualization

Tue, 26 May 2009 16:30:00 EDT

Watch this one-hour webcast from ILOG and discover the importance of visualization and how it can be implemented in web applications with a combination of open source and commercial technologies. Data visualization driven through AJAX Push allows you to make better business decisions in a real-time connected enterprise.

Sun to Open Java Store

Thu, 21 May 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Before Sun’s current management leaves the building, it’s going to open an iPhone-like Java Store where Sun-vetted third-party apps can be sold or traded. Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, back blogging again now that the company’s been sold, calls the scheme Project Vector and imagines developers eventually bidding for position and Sun charging for distribution and delivery direct to the desktop. (JavaFX bypasses potentially hostile browsers.)

JSR Watch: Here’s to Progress

Fri, 15 May 2009 15:00:00 EDT

The end of the year is an opportunity to review the past year’s activity, and to present this to our Executive Committee (EC) members, to our broader membership, and to the general public. So this month I will summarize our progress during the past year. First, in addition to the ongoing work of moving JSRs through the process (more on this later), the JCP engaged in a couple of new initiatives around transparency and agility.

Peeking Through the Keyhole on Sun’s Boardroom

Fri, 15 May 2009 11:45:00 EDT

Sun had a suitor other than IBM and Oracle. It says so in its proxy statement where it tells of its blow-by-blow adventures since November 6 when Sam Palmisano, the CEO of IBM, thinly disguised in the account as Party A, approached Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz about a takeover. Sometime between November 6 and December 19 Sun approached the unidentified Party B, who was interested but found the timing inconvenient.

The Revolution Continues

Fri, 15 May 2009 11:00:00 EDT

The consensus seems to be, at least from the myriad surveys, studies, and research, that cloud as a model is the right answer, it’s just the location that’s problematic for most organizations. Organizations aren’t ignoring reality; they know there are real benefits associated with cloud computing. But they aren’t yet – and may never be – willing to give up control. And there are good reasons to maintain that control, from security to accountability to agility. But the “people” still want the benefits of cloud, so the question is: how do we put the power of ( cloud | elastic | on-demand) computing into the hands of the people who will benefit from it without requiring that they relocate to a new address “in the cloud?”

How to Secure Virtualized Applications Against the Unknown

Thu, 14 May 2009 12:30:00 EDT

Risks with virtualization is same as it ever was but different. Hoff makes a good point about cloud security last month in his “The Cloud is a Fickle Mistress: DDoS&M” which was, if I may quote, “it’s the oldies and goodies that will come back to haunt us.” In other words, it’s the well-known, well-understood protocol-based attacks of uncloud computing that will be problematic for cloud computing.

JSR Watch: Focus on Spec Leads

Tue, 12 May 2009 17:15:00 EDT

The Java Community Process requires the development of not only technical specifications, but also Reference Implementations (which prove that specs can be implemented) and conformance test suites (Technology Compatibility Kits or TCKs), which are used to verify that implementations conform to the specifications.

Veryant Helps Businesses Bridge the COBOL to Java Divide

Mon, 11 May 2009 10:47:00 EDT

Veryant has announced a new software release to help organizations lower operational costs by modernizing COBOL assets. This latest version of Veryant’s isCOBOL Application Platform Suite (APS) simplifies COBOL and Java integration, enhances the Eclipse-based development environment, and includes several improvements to make moving to isCOBOL from alternative platforms even easier.