It Architectures and Middleware: Strategies for Building Large, Integrated Systems

~pattern-oriented architecture is pretty recent, and has its academic origin. The upside of it is that it is cutting edge and systematic. However, although you can verify it from your own experience -- if you have many years experiences like me :-) -- but deep in your heart, you just cannot help wandering how solid those patterns are -- you need some real life backup. This book provides that. It does not mention "pattern oriented architecture", but its "principles" are exactly that, and~~ you can FEEL it that those "principles" are from many years REAL-LIFE experiences. This is definitely the best, besides the POSA book, of course. It is so concise and thin, every sentence worth thinking. It is a must for every good techie or modeler. On the other hand, if you cannot understand it, or, cannot appreciate it -- does not matter whether you are a techie or modeler -- you are definitely not qualified! Take the challenge, and buy it!~

The value of this book can be distilled into a succinct sentence: it describes middleware and how it's used as an architectural foundation, and provides guidance for when to use transaction-oriented and message-oriented solutions. While this sounds simplistic, consider how architects go about designing systems. They think in terms of their background and experience. An architect who comes from a data-intensive environment is apt to use a transaction monitor as a component of a solution instead of a message queuing manager that may be more appropriate. This book provides architects with a high-level view of middleware and how to select the most appropiate solution for a given design problem.What I especially like about the book is the clear writing and well designed illustrations that combine to convey basic concepts and subtle nuances of transaction- and message-oriented middleware. If you are seeking low-level details necessary for the detailed design or build phases of a project this book will disappoint. However, if you are seeking clear and unbiased information on the strengths and weaknesses of various middleware solutions and how they serve as the foundation of distributed systems this book will almost certainly give you insights and knowledge that you can immediately put to use. This book is a perfect complement to B2B Application Integration by David S. Linthicum, which goes into additional technical detail and covers broader issues of architecture with respect to heterogenous [legacy] system integration. Regardless of your technical environment, however, IT Architectures and Middleware is worthwhile for new and seasoned architects and IT managers.

In this book the author provides solid, pragmatic approaches to tackling the complexity of IT environments today. He shows how an architectural framework enables more rapid and cost effective implementation and integration of new systems and technologies whilst minimising risk. By following Britton's guidelines, any systems manager can be assured of greater success in adapting to the ever changing IT landscape. In addition to valuable advice, this book is also easy to read! I whole-heartedly recommend it.

IT Architecture And Middleware: Strategies For Building Large, Integrated Systems, presents the essential principles and priorities of system design, emphasizing the new requirements brought about by the rise of e-commerce and distributed, integrated systems. IT professional Christ Britton offers a concise overview of middleware technology alternatives and distributed systems as he covers such topics as information access requirements and data consistency, creation of a new presentation layer for existing applications, application integration, and component architectures. Carl Britton's IT Architecture And Middleware is a highly recommended addition to the growing body of information technology literature and IT architecture reference collections.

This book is for two audiences: (1)Those who need a quick course in IT architectures in general and e-commerce architectures in particular, and (2)experienced IT architects who want to further their professional knowledge. I know this sounds like a near-impossible order for a 296 page book, but the author manages to pull off the near impossible. My background encompasses both architectures and middleware, among other disciplines. By the time I had read 15 pages I was marveling at how well the author described complex concepts. My first thought was this book is one I would recommend to less experienced analysts and architects to kick-start their knowledge. By page 40 I was enlightened--and profoundly so--on the strengths and weaknesses of transaction process monitors vs. message queueing. I thought I knew a thing or two about these subjects based on my extensive experience with Bea's Tuxedo and more recent experience with IBM's MQSeries. After reading the brief but extremely well articulated section in the book I felt as though I really understood both approaches for the first time! The rest of the book is a fast tour of object technology, architectures, database management and transaction management. It contains one gem of insight or knowledge after the other. While technical books are not usually "page turners" this one certainly is (that, or I seriously need to get a life). Even the short section on organizational and project management context contained great information. To summarize: This book is well suited for both beginners and experienced professionals. The author covers a lot of ground in such a manner that the beginner can comprehend the complexities of IT architectures and the proper application of middleware. The experienced practitioner will find one thought provoking fact or insight after another that they may not have considered. The author has both wide and deep knowledge on a number of topics. He also has, in my opinion, one of the keenest minds in the industry. I hope he takes the time to write more books because I believe he made a significant contribution to the body of IT architecture knowledge with this book.