Part A: Hybrid Application Service Providers

ASP Integrated Applications

Revenue from desktop application sales ends with the sale. Or does it? Companies like Microsoft provide updates, fixes, and security patches to its software while developing the next revenue-generating edition. However, they don't make another dime until they release the next edition. But that isn't the only model.

McAfee charges an annual maintenance fee that includes daily application and virus definition updates. McAfee provides it for one year as part of its license. After the first year, license holders may continue to use the software, but they must pay a subscription fee if they want updates. Customers tend to pay for this subscription service in order to protect themselves from new virus threats. Thus, McAfee generates revenue long after the initial sale. In this way, McAfee behaves like an application service provider.
The following questions will help you explore the many ASP-related services that relocate applications, maintenance, and data from your systems and allow you to focus on your mission.

a. Skype offers audio, video, and instant messaging tools (see the Features link at www.skype.com). Compare the Skype tools to the equivalent Google offerings. Prepare a table in Word or write a one-page paper (at your instructor's re-quest) to compare these competing tools. Place Feature Skype, and Google as column headers. List individual features under "Feature" in the left-most column. Place the symbol "•" in the cell if irk a current feature for each competitor. Leave the cell blank if it isn't available at all. Give the table a professional appearance.

b. Yahoo and Google are in a heated competition for the same user base. Look up the latest developments for Yahoo at next.yahoo.com and for Google at labs.google.com Prepare a table in Word to compare current and beta features for Yahoo and Google. Place Feature, Google and Yahoo as column headers. List individual features under "Feature" in the left-most column. Place the symbol "*" in the cell if it's a current feature for each competitor and the symbol "•" in the cell if a beta feature.

Part B:

1. Refer to the Real World Challenge in the chapter, where the difficulty of making a business case for integration projects is discussed. What could managers do to make the benefits of those projects more clear? Should these be evaluated like any other IT project?

2. Why is there a trend toward cross-functional integrated enterprise systems in business?

Part C: Case Study- Toyota Europe, Campbell Soup Company, Sony Pictures, and W.W. Grainger: Making the Case for Enterprise Architects

1. What does the position of enterprise architect entail? What qualifications or experiences do you think a good enterprise architect should have? Support your answer with examples from the case.

2. Consider the different companies mentioned in the case and their experiences with enterprise architecture. Does this approach seem to work better in certain types of companies or industries than in others? Why or why not?