Managing Automation- July 2008

SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE SHARED INTERESTS Donald Ferguson and John Shewchuk overcame a long-standing industry rivalry to collaborate on a standards-based approach to distributed computing. BY JEFF MOAD n the mid-to-late 1990s, a group of influential computer and software companies, including IBM, HewlettPackard, and Sun Microsystems, squared off against arch-rival Microsoft over who would define and control the next generation of distributed software architecture. Each side created its own set of protocols intended to enable software systems to seamlessly and securely interoperate — regardless of the languages in which they were written and the operating systems on which they ran. IBM and its partners called their protocols the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). Microsoft dubbed its standard the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM). But both failed to gain widespread support, in large part because of the rift between Microsoft and IBM. “CORBA never actually worked to the extent that we thought it would,” says Don Ferguson, who was then at IBM as chief architect of a project that later became the WebSphere product family. As CORBA and DCOM began to fade, smart people at IBM, including Ferguson, and at Microsoft, including Don Box, Bob Atkinson, Mohsen Al-Ghosein, Andrew Layman, and Dave Winer, had concurrent epiphanies: A highly distributed, interoperable platform already existed in the form of the Internet. Why not use increasingly ubiquitous Web standards such as HTML and HTTP — and emerging standards such as XML — as the foundation of a new, open, standards-based approach to distributed computing? There was just one problem: To get a new set of standards widely and quickly adopted, the industry would need a new paradigm for developing and promoting those standards, one based on collaboration, not confrontation. And industry lead- I ers Microsoft and IBM would have to lead the collaboration. “Microsoft had the desktop applications and things like Visual Basic used to build the applications,” Ferguson recalls. “IBM, while not the only server-side platform, was the dominant one. It seemed natural that [they] should solve the problem.” Eventually, those smart people persuaded top executives at IBM and Microsoft to buy into collaborating on and promoting technical standards that later became known as Web services and, still later, services-oriented architecture. But that meant IBM and Microsoft would have to collaborate on the sequence, details, and implementation of standards needed to flesh out the SOA concept. To do that, each company would need a top technical manager who understood SOA, could influence others, and could work closely with the rival company. At IBM, Ferguson was that person. And at Microsoft, it was John Shewchuk, now a technical fellow at the company and, at one time, co-founder of Microsoft’s Indigo project, which brought SOA capabilities to the company’s operating systems. The two collaborated almost daily, helping to drive early, basic Web services technologies, such as SOAP and WSDL, into fullblown standards that could support an industrial-strength distributed platform. “At Microsoft, John evangelized the need to talk to IBM,” says Steve Martin, director of product management for Microsoft’s Connected Systems division. “He established a relationship with Don Ferguson at IBM and drove the team to work together in a compatible way.” Together, they developed an iterative approach to standards-making, agreeing on pieces of the overall architecture, and releasing the specs a bit at a time to give the industry time to absorb them. They developed a system for resolving disagreements. And they pushed ahead, even when people questioned their approach. “Sometimes I was asked, ‘How did you get them to agree to this?’ ” says Ferguson, who is now senior vice president for development at Computer Associates. “Other times, I would be asked, ‘Why did you agree to this?’ ” Through the process, “we became friends,” Ferguson says. “John and I both understood what customers wanted and the importance of getting this done. We had a shared goal.” In the end, the collaboration produced much more than a friendship. It opened the door for SOA standards that are transforming the software that manufacturers use daily to run their businesses, making integration, interoperability, and rapid response to change easier. Donald Ferguson AGE: 47 POSITION: Senior vice president for development, Computer Associates. Before that, Ferguson was a technical fellow at Microsoft. Earlier, he was an IBM fellow and chief architect in IBM’s Software group. ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Provided overall technical leadership for WebSphere, Tivoli, DB2, Rational, and Lotus products at IBM AWARDS/PATENTS: Guided IBM’s strategy and architecture for SOA and Web services, and co-authored many of the initial Web service specifications MOST ADMIRED: John Shewchuk John Shewchuk AGE: NA POSITION: Technical fellow, Microsoft ACCOMPLISHMENTS: A leader in developing the Web services architecture and specifications; managed technical negotiations with a broad range of industry partners, including IBM, SAP, and Sun AWARDS/PATENTS: Played a key role in the development of Internet technologies, including stylesheets, browser behaviors, and Web server controls. Worked on Microsoft’s Internet development tools and played a key role in the development of Visual Studio .NET and its support for Web services July 2008 21

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation- July 2008

Managing Automation- July 2008 Contents Take 1 HP's Acquisition of EDS May Face Integration, Global Delivery Challenges Rimini Plans to Woo SAP Support Users Rockwell Steps Up Its Activities in Software Microsoft Targets the Process of Innovation Supply Chain Standouts Honored by AMR Notes Who Are Today's Influential Thinkers? The Robot Revolution Is the Price Right? Without a Trace Harvesting the Suggestion Box Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

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