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Recent Posts

  • Converge: Liaison Applies Complex Integration Solutions to People

    Apr 24, 2012
    Last week I attended and presented at Liaison’s annual user/partner conference in Atlanta, GA. For me, it wasn’t about all of the technology or solutions that Liaison is rolling out for its partners and customers. It wasn’t about all of the wonderful insights that many of the speakers had - whether it was Dr. Jeff Norris from NASA talking about mission-critical agility (for whom I enjoyed thoroughly), or Daryl Plummer’s’ incredible insight into why cloud service brokers are necessary (also very enlightening).
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  • On-Premise Data, AKA – “Cloud Cache”

    Apr 19, 2012
    I remember studying memory caching techniques in my computer architecture course in college, learning about how memory is organized and about overall caching strategies. The Level 1 (L1) or primary cache is the primary form of storage, and considered to be the fastest form of data storage. The L1 cache exists directly on the processor (CPU) and is limited in size to data that is accessed often or that is considered critical for quick access.
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  • Reliability Meets Defrost

    Mar 15, 2012
    My refrigerator stopped working recently. This was not good. No warning, just kaput! This is drama of course. Food is now on a collision course for spoiling. It’s amazing to think, all we ask of a refrigerator is to keep things cold. When it works as expected, we take it for granted. When it stops, we feel great pain.
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  • Cloud Computing and Plausibility

    Feb 23, 2012
    We are used to what we know. What is not familiar is not as trusted. This applies to business processes and IT just as much as it applies in other areas of life.
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  • SearchSOA Discusses CSB with Rob Fox

    Feb 17, 2012
    Recently I was asked to sit down and do an interview for SearchSOA to discuss the concept of a CSB (Cloud Services Brokerage).
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  • The Semantic Fog Around Cloud Computing and SOA

    Jan 26, 2012
    The Oklahoma state legislature once passed a bill banning "obtuse verbiage" in bills so that citizens could more easily understand the laws. Those of us who speak and write about cloud computing and SOA are as likely to weave impenetrable semantic fogs as are legislators.
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  • A Look at the Year Ahead

    Jan 20, 2012
    2011 marked another milestone year for Liaison with our successful merger with nuBridges, Inc. and exceptional growth in our healthcare and life sciences practice. Our hard work last year has set the stage for a truly transformational year in 2012.
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  • Guest Blog on SandHill.com: Cloud Service Brokers a 2012 Cloud Computing Trend

    Jan 10, 2012
    2012 will see the rise of the Cloud Service Broker (CSB) as organizations increasingly outsource multiple processes to the cloud. The challenge of managing multiple cloud providers and getting a diverse set of solutions such as CRM, B2B, EAI, accounting and more to work together and share data can be daunting to IT departments used to managing these solutions in house.
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  • 2012: Year of Connectivity for Health Information Exchanges

    Dec 20, 2011
    It’s tough to run most businesses without revenue, and in most cases difficult to run a business without customers. In the HIE world, it’s the same with the exception that they can do without those when they have government funding. But funding eventually runs out and this means that they must generate revenue through “customers” – providers, payers, patients or other third parties like life sciences organizations for secondary use of information. The good news is that HIEs, like traditional businesses, can sustain themselves when they have lots of customers; the bad news is they can’t when they lack customers.
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  • B2B Trend Prediction for 2012 – B2C to drive B2B agility

    Dec 14, 2011
    Stop for a second and answer these questions: - How many devices in your home are now connected to the internet? Your phone? Tablet? DVR? TV? Refrigerator? How about a wireless bathroom scale? (Yes, it exists!) - How often do you see a post on Facebook that resembles this; “Johnny Bravo is reading ‘The Elf on the Shelf’ on his Nook”? - When purchasing products online how often do you read peer reviews and pay attention to rankings? - Do you sometimes make purchases on your mobile device because you are too lazy to walk to the other room where your laptop happens to be? (I’m guilty as charged!)
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  • Data Integration in the Cloud - or Not?

    Nov 16, 2011
    It's a question faced by countless SMB CIOs and IT managers: "Should we implement data integration on-premise or choose a cloud-based Software as a Service solution provider?" It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Here's why the hybrid approach to data integration makes sense for small and medium-sized businesses.
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  • The Current State of Cloud Data Integration

    Oct 11, 2011
    As adoption of cloud services among corporate IT continues to grow, so has the need to tie those applications back to on-premise data stores and systems. Despite the growing number of tools available for on-premise and SaaS, or cloud integration, most companies are still using "labor-intensive custom programming," according to a recent Forrester Research report. The report goes on to say that enterprises are seeking a leaner and more holistic approach to integration, doing more real-time integration and planning increased usage of Enterprise Service Busses (ESBs) and data services platforms.
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  • Cloud Services Brokerage Gets U.S. Government Backing

    Sep 27, 2011
    These days, it’s hard to open a magazine or watch TV without seeing or hearing something about “cloud computing.” It’s a hot IT topic that’s gone mainstream in the media. And yet, despite cloud-computing endorsements from trusted industry analysts like Gartner and its adoption by numerous forward-thinking organizations, at many companies the jury’s still out. I think that’s about to change, especially with regard to cloud brokerage services.
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  • Gartner Research on Mohawk and Liaison: Insights into the Future of Cloud Computing

    Aug 17, 2011
    After more than a year of research, Gartner recently published “Case Study: Mohawk Fine Papers Uses a CSB to Ease Adoption of Cloud Computing,” authored by Gartner Research Vice President Benoit J. Lheureux. The research examines how Mohawk leveraged Liaison’s data exchange platform (DXP) and managed services to enable end-to-end business process integration of on-premise applications and a diverse range of cloud services.
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  • Mohawk Fine Papers Leverages Liaison’s SOA and Integration Services to Move into the Cloud Quickly

    Aug 16, 2011
    Mohawk Fine Papers is the largest premium paper manufacturer in North American, and like many well-established companies they needed to simplify their B2B and e-commerce strategies by developing a unified information architecture that would enable interoperability with business partners in the cloud.
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  • Please Allow Me To Introduce You To a Streamlined Liaison.com

    Aug 15, 2011
    It is an exciting time in the market with once separate solutions and services such as MDM, EAI and B2B converging right before our eyes into a single, much more comprehensive and complete, even cloud-based service offering. Soon it will be sufficient to describe a business integration challenges without having to decompose the problem into separate piece parts and engage multiple service providers, and buy specialized software applications each with a different role to play in integration and data management. You will also not need a $250 per hour interpreter (also known as a consultant) to simply untangle this complex vendor and solution landscape before you can develop a coherent RFP.
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  • Successful Cloud Outsourcing Achieved by Asking the Right Questions

    Jun 20, 2011
    There’s no question about it: The cloud is hot! So, it’s really no wonder that more and more companies are offering their solutions as cloud services. With a plethora of emerging cloud-based service options for everything from sales automation, human resources and payroll to order fulfillment, credit card processing and more, companies across all industries are looking seriously at the feasibility of outsourcing multiple applications and business processes to cloud service providers.
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  • How about the Mavericks? And….What about the Cloud?

    Jun 15, 2011
    Dallas is buzzing with conversations about the Mavericks winning the NBA title. At the IANs Lone Star conference, the two hot topics have been: How about the Mavericks? And…. What about the cloud?
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  • Live from Amsterdam’s “Green Light District” (aka Convergence Europe)

    Jun 08, 2011
    If you’re like most people, when you first think of Amsterdam, you think “Red Light” as in the Red Light District where window shopping and coffee shops are aplenty. But the kickoff of Liaison Convergence Europe was all about the “Green Light District” which is “all systems go” for cloud-based applications.
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  • From the Clinical Data Forum in Munich…I Could Be Rich

    May 24, 2011
    A month after attending Bio-IT World in Boston, I’m in Munich at the Clinical Data Forum where I spoke today on Using Secure Cloud Services to Transform Health Sciences Processes. Much like we are seeing in the supply chain world, healthcare is beginning to realize there are advantages to be had in using cloud services, not only for storage of information, but actual platform/application level services.
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