Persistence in computer science refers to the characteristic of state that outlives the process that created it. Without this capability, state would only exist in RAM, and would be lost when this RAM loses power, such as a computer shutdown. (Wikipedia)

Governance is one of those concepts that suddenly emerged and became an important issue in IT. It is not clear when exactly the concept originated as we understand it now. In 1998, the IT Governance Institute was founded to disperse the IT governance concept. In academic and professional literature, articles mentioning IT governance in the title began to emerge during the late 1990s.

Complex Event Processing (CEP) [1] is generating increasing interest among companies due to its ability to increase operational efficiency by providing a means to identify and interpret the effect of seemingly unrelated events taking place across the organization and then notifying the appropriate stakeholders with near zero latency.

It's all about the money! This is one of most common ideas in the minds of enterprise executives. It is one of the tenets that has driven enterprises for decades because, well ... of course, businesses want to make money. Although this is true, that doesn't mean the company and its products or services need to be cost-driven.

¡Se trata del dinero! Esta es una de las ideas más comunes en la mente de ejecutivos empresariales. Es uno de los principios que han dirigido empresas durante décadas porque, bueno... por supuesto, los negocios quieren hacer dinero. Aunque esto es cierto, no quiere decir que la empresa y sus productos o servicios necesitan ser basados en costo.

BP PLC Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward did not come across very well in his testimony in June before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is looking into the loss of the oil-drilling platform Deepwater Horizon.

In my last Advisor on this subject (see "Semantics, Pragmatics, Outsourcing Shape 'Net's Future: Part I," 1 July 2010), I explored the two dimensions of information (semantics and pragmatics) and identified a continuum of tolerance for error in interpretation (from none

Apple continues to make waves with the iPad and the iPhone. The iPad is probably already a US $2 billion line of business in a scant 80 days. Name another product that generated so much revenue so fast. I am finding how Apple pulled off that feat to be a more significant lesson in the design and engineering of a businesses than the glitz and splash of the iPad usability.

One of the biggest problems we face as architects is enabling the transition from architectural specification to executing systems. As I've said many times, the value of architecture does not come from creating the architecture, but rather from applying it. By applying it, I mean influencing the selection, analysis, design, and implementation of an enterprise's IT systems.

The January 2010 issue of the Cutter IT Journal ("The Great Recession Fallout: Will CIOs Be Elevated or Exterminated?" Vol. 23, No. 1) focused on the future of the CIO.

Cloud computing continues to gain momentum as a description of service offerings based on a virtualized data center infrastructure and provided over the Internet on an as-needed basis. Public clouds, such as Amazon EC2, first brought attention to this model, followed by private clouds built within an organization, as exemplified by IBM's Blue Cloud initiative.

EMC Corporation announced it is acquiring data warehousing database vendor Greenplum, Inc. for an undisclosed amount. This deal is important because the addition of Greenplum's analytic database and cloud data warehousing infrastructure offerings will enable EMC to form a new data warehousing/analytics division within its information infrastructure business.

Sports broadcasting is an industry that does not wait for competitors to vet new technology; rather, it rushes to use new technology, and by doing so, creates a more innovative product -- a uniquely compelling, highly rated broadcast.

In my last Advisor (see "Has Agile Grown Up Yet? Assessing the Maturity of Your Process," 24 June 2010), I discussed the need for assessing agile process maturity. This week, I provide some methods for going about performing assessments.

There's a brand-new layer of digital intelligence being conceived on the world's century-old electric power grid by way of your regional electric power utility, through your new smart meter, and extending into your future home and business energy-management systems and smart appliances. It's called the Smart Grid.

Here's how the Electric Power Research Institute defines it:

In the chaotic world of IT, frontline leaders sometimes struggle to keep up with the pace. Projects and productivity expectations can push the most important asset -- people -- to the back of the pack. Successful organizations know, however, that no matter how good the technology, it is the people who make it work. When people come first, customers win.

Sometimes you get lucky. For the better part of my career, I have been a researcher, consultant, and teacher. Teaching, I find, gives me the most short-term fun, because I get immediate feedback. I think that I learn more when I am consulting, because I'm constantly faced with solving problems in real time. And researching gives me some perspective and ties everything together.

Be honest. How well are you managing your compliance to technical regulations, requirements, policies, and procedures?

The applicability of statistical process control (SPC) to software development has been debated since 1989, when the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) endorsed its use in the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). Proponents of the use of SPC techniques in software grasped how powerful the techniques could be beyond traditional manufacturing processes.

Back in the 1970s, there was a very popular show called "Happy Days," starring Ron Howard and Henry Winkler, who played Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. Five years into the series, an episode aired in which Fonzie is shown improbably water skiing and jumping a shark to show his bravery.

Recently, I was having a short exchange with Dr. Ken Calvert, chair of our computer science department at University of Kentucky. The topic was relational databases. The question: are they relevant anymore? Do we need still need to teach formal means of describing, searching, and using information?

Recent media coverage of BP and the spill in the Gulf of Mexico reveals that BP's management decisions and actions have been dominated by cost considerations. Rather than taking lower-risk actions or investing in better solutions, BP apparently took the low road. The low-cost road, that is. We in IT of course are very familiar with this.

Several forces are converging in the industry to spotlight the idea of architecture certification. First, EA has become a commonly accepted practice. As the complexity of IT continues to increase, so does the need for architecture. Yet, few organizations really understand what EA is, how to apply it, or what an architect does.

A lot of advice has been given about the "how" and "why" of agile. Yet, in human resources (HR), there is still a need for an internal push on several counts. What would enable HR to create and support an agile environment? First, the ability to let go of all the earlier beliefs about people's functions and requirements, and second, a move to experiencing and understanding the agile employee from a different paradigm.