Did you ever want to move a mission-critical application to an open, distributed system? But then you backed off because you thought the application might crash and you'd never be able to put it together again. Or maybe you worried that the new system wouldn't be able to "talk" to other systems?
Whatever your doubts, they won the day.
The next time you consider such a move, however, you just might decide to go ahead. Thanks to the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) the prospects for success in moving an application to an open, distributed environment are getting a lot better.
Take the Naval Space Command, which now depends on a distributed environment to make sure the sky isn't falling -- talk about mission critical. There are more than 8,000 objects and various "space junk" orbiting earth, and that number is expected to grow faster than your local landfill.
"We have to know where each object is at any given time," says Mike Carr, head of the hardware and systems integration branch of Naval Space Command, which tracks and catalogs all man-made objects in space in support of national defense and NASA activities. "We also must predict where each will be at future points in time." The Naval Space Command also backs up the U.S. Space Command as the Alternate Space Defense Operations Center and as the Alternate Space Surveillance Center.
system and, without question, IBM was the
most effective, in both productivity and costs,"
says Mike Carr, U.S. Naval Space Command.
Mike Carr, U.S. Naval Space Command
After a review of multiple vendors, the group migrated to a distributed environment of IBM RISC System/6000 servers, together with IBM's High AvailabilityClustered MultiProcessing (HACMP) software. The system's brains are the AIX operating system, but its heart -- which links the agency's worldwide information-gathering tools and other devices -- is the Distributed Computing Environment.
"We benchmarked IBM against our existing system and, without question, IBM was the most effective, in both productivity and costs," says the Navy's Carr. "And IBM's implementation of DCE, combined with other system features, gives us flexibility that the others just couldn't provide."
The Naval Space Command's installation, supporting up to 250 concurrent users on IBM RS/6000 client systems, is one of the largest DCE "cells," or group, in the world. DCE helped the organization "deliver exceptional space-information products at a reduced cost, offer more highly interactive systems with much improved data access and services, and avoid expensive maintenance and upgrade charges," according to Carr.
DCE is a set of software specifications and network facilities that enable peer-to-peer communications among local and remote sites. When incorporated into operating, network, and application software, DCE allows the disparate components of a network to operate as a unified system. In addition, DCE permits administrators to take advantage of a wide range of system resources without having to understand the specifics of how they communicate over a network.
"DCE is essentially a framework for constructing, connecting, and interoperating heterogeneous computer systems," says Joseph Spano, solution manager for Open and Distributed Systems in IBM's Large Scale Computing Division. "In fact, DCE is a fundamental part of IBM's Open Blueprint, a structure to enable the development, execution, and management of interoperable, distributed applications. DCE has been rolled out on every major IBM platform. Now, users don't have to worry about building a framework for connectivity. They can concentrate on selecting the right platforms and developing applications -- and not worry about hooking systems together."
With DCE, information access over distributed UNIX-, DOS-, OS/2-, and MVS-based networks becomes transparent. Therefore, users can obtain data without knowing where or how it is stored within the computers in a group, or DCE cell. Although several distributed-computing vendors offer proprietary products that can connect multivendor systems running multiple operating systems, they only address narrow market segments, according to Datapro, a research organization in Delran, N.J.
"DCE comes with a bit of overhead," IBM's Spano notes. "But as the price of hardware declines, we can trade off relatively inexpensive processing power to gain benefits such as an easier programming environment, connectivity across a network, and increased security."
DCE enables information system managers to link -- across the enterprise -- different computing resources that were installed at different times for vastly different users. If these resources operate together, resources can be shared and performance optimized by distributing tasks across multiple platforms.
"DCE provides a consistent and secure model for integrating different computer environments," says Mike Guidry, technical adviser, architecture and strategy, at Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville, Okla. Guidry has been involved with DCE on MVS, AIX, OS/2, and Windows platforms since 1992. He was one of 10 early MVS/DCE beta customers, and is the principal adviser on DCE in Phillips. "In the past, operating systems depended on their own proprietary interfaces for communications," he explains. "IBM used Systems Network Architecture, VAX used DECnet, PCs used NetBIOS, and UNIX used TCP/IP.
"Interoperability meant supporting multiple interfaces," Guidry continues. "But even standardizing on one protocol, such as TCP/IP, didn't resolve such issues as security and location independence."
Interoperability also eases management concerns. A company with heterogeneous networks, for example, requires one system administrator for every seven to 10 systems with a Network File System. But if the networks are integrated using DCE, a single system administrator may be able to handle 200 machines, estimates Herrick Johnson, a consultant formerly with ETG, an open-systems consulting firm in Atlanta, Ga.
"The promise of DCE is that a company can set up a 'cell' and interoperate with cells at other companies," says Johnson. "For example, a manufacturer should be able to easily check his supplier's inventory levels without compromising security or data."
DCE can also be a mainframe's admission ticket to open systems. Compared with smaller systems, mainframes provide unparalleled data security and large-volume data management. Despite mainframe's advantages, few new applications are being written for them. To make mainframes available to new applications and users, IBM developed MVS/ESA Open Edition operating system, which adds DCE capabilities to MVS mainframes.
For programmers and software vendors, DCE provides a common set of programming "hooks" that make it easier to develop and distribute applications across heterogeneous platforms. Results: increased programmer productivity and greater program portability. Users, moreover, benefit from better information access and operational simplicity. For example, they need only remember one log-in procedure and password, no matter which system they access.
DCE is an offspring of the Open Software Foundation (OSF), a not-for-profit research organization established in 1988 and headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. OSF's mission is to develop open-software systems not tied to any individual vendor's products. To assure that open technologies are vendor-neutral, OSF canvasses the computer industry at large for input. The input is reviewed by member vendors and standards organizations, which then recommend the best technologies. They're incorporated, by OSF, into such products such as DCE -- which is now part of the networks at SECOM Information Systems, Charles Schwab, MCI, Hughes Aircraft, the Federal Aviation Administration, Argonne National Laboratory, and many other major organizations.
OSF has more than 400 members, including IBM, Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, Bull HN Information Systems, and Siemens-Nixdorf Information Systems. Also involved are firms building middleware applications, including Transarc (Pittsburgh, Penn.), Atrium Technologies (Austin, Texas) and Gradient Technologies (Marlboro, Mass.). Other members include service companies, industry consortia, educational institutions, and government organizations. OSF, which offers membership to any organization, is now working hard to incorporate independent software vendors and users into its programs.
"DCE is appropriate for a wide array of application areas," says Kathryn DeNitto, DCE technology manager at OSF. "All the major vendors are using DCE in one way or another, and applications span the financial, telecommunications, retail, and other major industries. There are many opportunities for converting legacy applications to new applications using DCE -- especially since companies are introducing tools that make it easier to develop DCE applications. There is activity from major database vendors. Oracle and Sybase are DCE licensees, and we want to make it as easy as possible for them to deploy DCE."
Unfortunately, there still aren't enough application development tools, says John Rymer, editor-in-chief of Distributed Computing Monitor. "The lack of these tools is keeping DCE from crossing the chasm into general use," he says. "Well-known companies are adopting the technology, but they're making the necessary upfront investment in developing the appropriate tools."
The Center of Information Technology Integration at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., offers a program called Client/Server Exchange. It provides executive briefings, hands-on DCE training classes, and a multivendor laboratory where attendees can experience the latest open-system and distributed-computing technologies.
"The most frequently asked question we get is, 'Is DCE real?'" says Ted Hanss, director of the center. "Yes, it's real, and companies can definitely get started with a pilot or production system today."
Are there any risks to DCE? "There are always risks in betting on a technology whose momentum falters," observes Hanss. "But right now I don't see an alternative to DCE, especially since IBM and other vendors are strongly committed to it. There are probably greater risks in trying to live with the islands of corporate computing that exist today."
The best way to begin, Hanss suggests, is with education. "Talk to consultants or organizations that offer DCE training. DCE vendors also have excellent resources. Get involved with OSF as an end-user member, and start rubbing elbows with others just starting with DCE."
He also recommends building a business case for open systems. The case should address the importance of accessing legacy systems, the current capabilities of desktop machines and other computing devices, depth of implementation, internal and other resources, and other issues.
He notes that DCE implementation will be much easier with UNIX and OS/2 architectures than with DOS or Macintosh machines.
"Be willing to hammer out an information-technology architecture to support your business," recommends Phillips' Guidry. "Get business involved in defining the architecture. Remember, it's not 'your' architecture; it must belong to the business. Obtain upper-management support for the architecture, and create road maps for its implementation."
Understand, too, that DCE "is not a quick fix," adds Guidry. "The transition to client/server is very difficult when your goal is to provide highly reliable solutions to your businesses, which must scale to thousands of users and interoperate with legacy systems while still providing autonomy to the business lines."
To make the transition easier, Guidry recommends training. A trained team can implement non-critical applications in proof-of-concept pilot programs to gain additional insights. Training can also be effective in overcoming the fears of those who may feel threatened by the changes implicit in DCE.
"It's clear that IBM has taken the integration and deployment of DCE more seriously than most other vendors," notes consultant Johnson. "The benefit of all this is to make all your systems work as one and cut costs and improve the performance of the corporation. For example, it can make information available to a larger number of employees while still protecting the security of that information.
"If employee access to information is better," Johnson continues, "then company performance is better. That's what DCE is all about."
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