I just got off with the phone with a customer discussing how TIBCO Silver® Fabric could impact their environment. The discussion started like most, where there was interest in cloud enabling their operations. They stated the reason they were looking at cloud computing was because they are under continued pressures to examine new avenues of simplification and streamlining tasks. They shared some details about the alternatives they are looking at. While I was explaining the TIBCO approach, I discovered a simple truth about vendor solutions. All too often, DNA of the vendor dictates how solutions are designed. At TIBCO, we have many years delivering sophisticated middleware and complex architectures in heterogeneous environments. In other words, TIBCO is highly accustomed to adding value while not being able to control the rest of the ecosystem.
When it comes to delivering value through streamlining operations, the question is: “Whose perspective are you streamlining?” Infrastructure operators? Middleware operators? Developer operators? The TIBCO solution, Silver Fabric, looks at streamlining from the perspective of middleware operations. As a middleware operator, there are a number of things to consider: What is the runtime architecture of the platform I am supporting? How does it scale? How does it restart? How do I deploy application code to the platform? How do I determine if the platform is healthy? The combination of these details creates a number of challenges toward streamlining operations across a heterogeneous middleware environment. This is a key differentiator for Silver Fabric, where we effectively allow operations manage vastly different middleware architectures in a consistent streamlined framework. By doing this, we’ve created the ability for middleware operations to create greater value for the organization such as: delivering a developer self-service portal, create multi-purpose environments and create a foundation to become a Cloud Service Broker.
