The IASA Insider

August 3, 2010

Dear SoCal IASA Members,

As we head into the fall season, there are many exciting events on the calendar ahead. We have training and certification being offered all around the globe, so there is sure to be a class near you. Also, quickly approaching is the Twin Cities ITARC and the IASA World Summit 2010. Be sure to reserve your spot today.

We hope to see you soon.

-The IASA Team

Previous Webinar

Webinar Series: Urban and Information Architectures: A Cross Disciplinary Approach to Complexity

Roger Sessions and Nikos Salingaros

How do you manage the complexity of large systems? Complexity management is a common problem for both large urban architectures and large information architectures. Architectural complexity in both disciplines is driven by similar mathematical principles which define the relationship between complex systems (which are difficult to manage and understand) and simpler systems (which are easily graspable.) IT architects can learn to design much better and simpler IT systems by studying the basic design principles of urban architecture.

In this Webinar, Roger Sessions (IT Complexity Expert) and Nikos Salingaros (Urban Complexity Expert) explore the common problem of complexity as it impacts both IT and urban architectures and discuss the critical lessons each discipline can learn from the other.
 
View Now

Chapter News

Our chapter is open to any individual with a desire to learn about  IT Architecture and connect with individuals in the profession.  Membership in your local community entitles you to:

·         Free access to quarterly member events

·         Discounts on full-day educational or training events

·         Local networking opportunities

·         Professional development and leadership opportunities

·         Access to the chapter's member-only LinkedIn group

Membership in IASA's global organization can help enhance your career as an IT architect and provide you opportunities to get involved as a leader or content provider. Enjoy the following benefits of international membership:

·         Global Networking

·         Training

·         Research and Knowledge Development

·         Advocacy

Become a Member Today!

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IASA proudly presents its newest chapters:

Colombia

The Columbia chapter is the third IASA chapter in South America, the 37th chapter globally, and is the first IASA chapter to be affiliated at the University level rather than an incorporated association.

Roberto Pardo, Vice President of the chapter "our vision is to become the single voice representing IT architects in Columbia, and work with the Colombian government, educational institutions and enterprise companies to establish the necessary conditions to enable the empowerment of this new profession." 

IASA Columbia will hold an inaugural kick-off event at Universidad de los Andes, Engineering Faculty (Mario Laserna Building), on August 19. The event, will run from 4:00pm to 7:00pm will include speakers from the business community, alumni from the university, and from the local IASA board.  For more information on IASA, or the inauguration event, visit www.iasahome.org. 

Read full Article
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Kansas City
Aligned with the global profession, the new IASA Kansas City Chapter (IASAKC) will bring together the growing community of IT Architects in Kansas and Missouri to provide an open, collaborative and neutral environment for exchanging ideas and sharing best practices.

Patrick Liekhus, local IT trainer, analyst, developer and new President of KCIASA,  "We are extremely excited to bring the ideas of IASA to the local market here in Kansas City.  We have seen an enormous interest in the IASA career path model and supporting training and certification programs from the local government and businesses, as well as individual practicing architects."

Anthony Grandle is Vice President of the IASAKC, and is currently pursuing his Certified IT Architect-Professional (CITA-P) with IASA.  "We are eager to have an open platform for sharing best practices across the greater Kansas City area.  By bringing localized education courses and pushing for stronger advocacy for the value proposition of the IT Architect profession, we can help make the IT industry in Kansas City a hotbed to attract more businesses and help existing organizations grow."

The chapter will hold an inaugural meeting at the Johnson Count Library in Overland Park, KS, on September 8th.  The free event will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, and will introduce the community to the IASA mission, and offerings.  To register for the event, click here. For information on KCIASA visit www.iasakc.org

Read Full Article

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Salt Lake City, Utah

IASA Global would also like to welcome IASA Utah to the list of new chapters.

The chapter is led by President, Raju Pusapati, and Vice President, Adam Horrocks. Even though the chapter is in its early stages, you can still register to become a Salt Lake City member!

The Salt Lake City team is busy planning its upcoming inaugural meeting to be held sometime in September. Be sure to keep an eye out for more event details coming soon.

Please view their Chapter Page for updates and information.

The Angry Architect

Review: I/T Architecture in Action
By: Tom Hope

This book is about IT Architecture and is a methodology based on a technical five domain framework; Applications, Information, Network, Platform and Operations. It addresses each providing pretty much the currently accepted practices for each domain.

This means that over time the book will probably not age that well, but it is a fairly sound summary of the current state of play. It includes areas and concepts like wireless, ESBs, ODS and even SOA and virtualization, in a concise but not very detailed way.  After all it is only 180 pages and there would be books with more  pages on every one of these topics.

The  philosophy of blending  "strict rigor and organic innovation" sets this book a little at odds with the Euro architects, but it does produce an easy reading and informative text.  The book opens with the all too common Why EA? sell chapter;  in which the author covers off the usual agility verses cohesion issues.  However, I think it is in the next two chapters on Architectural Principles and Governance in which the book makes its real contribution.

Principles seem to be a problem for a lot of architects. Particularly, connecting them in a meaningful way to the design and development domains. This book offers what may be the best twenty odd pages linking business models and strategy to principles that I've seen written for the layman.  He goes on to back this up with a simple, but better than average chapter on governance. In which he rather timidly pokes a stick at the "managerial behavior" elephant. I can almost feel him constraining his frustration to the suggestion of a few metrics for the architectural review board's performance. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much to say about handling architectural exceptions, but then again not many authors do.

This is a good book, current, and easily read,  a little lightweight and while some sections will with time become obsolete others contain sound advice obviously born of experience.  Not deeply technical or academic it is a more than a fair attempt to bridge the business IT divide. I think most architects would find something useful in this book.

Reese, Richard J. (2008), I/T Architecture in Action, Tyler Westcott

ISBN 978-1- 4363-0505-1

Read more from The Angry Architect

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Previous attendees to any IASA ITARC can save 10% off their registration to either the IASA World Summit in New York City or the Twin Cities 2010 ITARC.

Contact our Events Department for more information

The IASA is the premier association focused on the IT architecture profession through the advancement of best practices, education and certification. Established in 2002, IASA delivers programs and services to IT architects of all levels around the world. A non-profit business association, IASA is dedicated to the advancement and sharing of issues related to software, infrastructure, Information, and business architecture in the enterprise, product, education and government sectors. 
 
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the association is committed to improving the quality of the IT architecture industry by developing and delivering standards, education and accredited certification programs and services that optimize the development of the architecture profession.  IASA has 30 Chapters in more than 40 countries, and has a member base and readership of 35,000 worldwide.  For more information, visit www.iasahome.org. 

Sincerely,

IASA