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At the core of our business lies technology. The technologies we embrace and
master are major determinants of who we are and what we can become. We pick and
choose technologies as carefully as we make any other investment. Following are
a few selected technologies in which we are investing. We believe these are
winners.
 The World Wide Web is more and more
used for application to application communication. Any software component that
makes itself available over the Internet and uses a standardized XML messaging
system may be generally considered a Web service.
Web Services are a new breed of Web application. They are self-contained,
self-describing, modular applications that can be published, located, and
invoked across the Web. Web Services perform functions, which can be anything
from responding to simple information requests to complicated business
processes. Once a Web service is deployed, other applications (and other Web
Services) can discover and invoke the deployed service.
Web Services is the next "big thing" in software development. Every business
will eventually become both a supplier and consumer of Web Services. Web
Services will completely change the way we conduct business, far beyond the
impact we've seen with e-commerce. Web Services take what HTML and TCP/IP
started, and add the element of XML, to enable task-focused services that come
together dynamically over the Web.
Applications access XML Web services via standard Web protocols and data formats
such as HTTP, XML, and SOAP, independent of how each XML Web service is
implemented. XML Web services combine the best aspects of component-based
development and the Web, and are a cornerstone of the Microsoft .NET
programming model.
By creating a standard way to connect disparate business systems, XML Web
services are a natural solution to many integration challenges. They enable
businesses to more economically connect with partners and customers; they
create the opportunity to act on information from a variety of mobile devices;
and they provide added flexibility to respond quickly to change. Web services
currently run a wide gamut from news syndication and stock-market data to
weather reports, currency exchange rates and package-tracking systems.
Click here to learn about one such
web service available from CompuWork.
So, what is really new about Web services? The answer is XML. XML lies at the
core of Web services and provides a common language for describing remote
procedure calls, Web services, and Web service directories.
XML is the acronym for eXtensible Markup Language, the universal format for
structured documents and data on the Web. XML is an industry-standard protocol
administered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). XML is a key enabling
technology for Microsoft .NET.
Prior to XML, one could share data among different applications, but XML makes
this so much easier to do. In the same vein, one can share services and code
without Web services, but XML makes it easier to do these as well.
By standardizing on XML, different applications can more easily talk to one
another, and this makes software a whole lot more interesting.
Microsoft® .NET is a set of Microsoft software technologies for connecting the
world of information, people, systems, and devices. .NET can help companies by
enabling them to more easily integrate services and applications. Connected
back-end systems provide businesses with the opportunity to combine information
and more easily assist customers-whether in a call center setting or in an
online Help application. A company can turn quality of service into a
competitive advantage.
The Microsoft .NET Framework is an environment for building, deploying, and
running XML Web services and other applications. A companion infrastructure,
the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, is a set of programming interfaces that
enable developers to target mobile devices like smart phones and PDAs.
Multi-tier system design logically divides computing tasks across the
application. Viewed from a purely functional standpoint, most applications
perform the following three main tasks: gathering user input, storing the input
as data, and manipulating the data as dictated by established operational
procedures. These tasks can be grouped into three or more tiers, which is why
the new system design provides for three-tier, or multitier applications. The
application tiers, shown in the figure below, are:
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Client Tier The user interface or presentation layer. Through
this topmost layer, the user can input data, view the results of requests, and
interact with the underlying system. On the Web, the browser performs these
user interface functions. In non-Web-based applications, the client tier is a
stand-alone, compiled front-end application.
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Middle Tier Components that encapsulate an organization's
business logic. These processing rules closely mimic everyday business tasks,
and can be single-task-oriented, or part of a more elaborate series of tasks in
a business workflow. In a Web application, the middle tier might consist of
Microsoft Component Object Model (COM+) components registered as part of a
transactional application or instantiated by a script in Active Server Pages
(ASP).
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Third Tier A database management system (DBMS) such as a
Microsoft SQL Server database, an unstructured data store such as Microsoft
Exchange, or a transaction-processing mechanism such as Message Queuing. A
single application can enlist the services of one or more of these data
providers.
Separating the application into layers isolates each major area of
functionality. The presentation is independent of the business logic, which is
separate from the data. Designing applications in this way has its tradeoffs;
it requires a little more analysis and design at the start, but greatly reduces
maintenance costs and increases functional flexibility in the end. The
explosive growth of the Internet is a strong motivation for organizations to
adopt n-tier architectures in their products.
Some of the platforms, applications and tools commonly used by CompuWork to
develop and deploy solutions are:
| . Windows Server 2003 |
. Exchange Server 2003 / 2007 |
 . Active
Directory |
. Office Developer 2003 / 2007 |
| . SharePoint Technologies |
. Excel |
| . Internet
Information Server |
. Outlook |
| . Visual Studio .NET 2008 |
. Access |
| . SQL Server 2005 / 2008 |
. Word
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. SharePoint Server |
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