Innovation with Social Responsibility

I just received an interesting invitation to an event for an award entitled "Innovations with Social Responsibility" to me as an entrepreneur and to my company. 

It is very true that by starting the ArchiTech Consulting LLC, I am more into enabling social advancement and benefit, as well as for the professional domain development and maturity. Current ongoing projects include:
   1) An Education Platform on Cloud
   2) New Generation IT Operating Model
   3) Common Service Platform for Inter-Enterprise Business Domains (with Inter-Enterprise Architecture)
   4) Information Technology for Smart City (involving above three)
I hope eventually we can achieve desirable results.

Vision and Strategy

There is a discussion on Forbes CEO Network "Which is more difficult to develop - the vision or the strategy?"

I should say we usually need to "have" a vision instead of "developing" it (otherwise will be struggling with a vision), and then "develop" the strategy. Vision is something you have it or not (difficult to one person but not necessarily to another), while strategy development has some discipline to follow. The true architecture involves both.  

Business Domain Based Common Service Platform

It is a natural step moving forward to have Business Domain Based Common Service Platforms, where my project of A Cloud Platform for Education on Demand is only one example. My recent visit to Beijing, China let me recognize that the efforts are embarked globally.

This is where Service Oriented Architecture meets Cloud Computing with Enterprise Architecture and Inter-Enterprise Architecture being quite useful guidance. I’d be glad to help and to see how SOA, Cloud Computing, EA, and IEA can work together cohesively to make the new Common Service Platforms being more open, long-term focused, disciplined, and efficient than we have had experienced so far.

This is a new paradigm with comprehensive talent, knowledge, and skill demands to the Chief Architects. Yes, this type of efforts need great Chief Architects indeed, instead of being pieced together by business and engineering teams only.

Predictive Analysis and Big Data

Predictive analysis is a hot topic today, especially when it is associated with big data. The research and development on the effective predictive mathematical model should be the essential part of this effort. It makes me thinking about my old days in multi-dimensional geometric modeling, especially in data interpolation and differential geometry, which creates mathematical models based on sampling data as reference or control points, with different degrees of continuities (smoothness). More data can help to make the degree of continuity higher, so that the model being more accurate. The similar mathematical models can definitely be applied to predictive analysis, using big data to tone the mathematical/computational models.  Mathematics is mathematics; it’s up to us how and where to use it.

BTW: I got my Ph.D in this area J

Cloud Computing Model - My Open Group Presentation in July 2013

Cloud Computing Model as Service Oriented Architecture

Yan Zhao, President, ArchiTech Consulting LLC, US

This presentation will discuss cloud computing from the evolution of service orientation point of view. It will discuss cloud computing models, the prior-arts, and the evolution path in federal government from Federal Enterprise Architecture, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Service Oriented Infrastructure (SOI) or Federal Infrastructure Optimization Initiative, to Cloud Computing. It will also discuss the current trend of the new generation IT operating model, as well as the related business impact. While cloud computing is contributing to the enterprise evolution towards service orientation and shared services, appropriate business management and operation mechanisms must be in place in order to practice successfully, e.g. suitable business models, service models, service structure, funding models, operation models, operation structure, as well as lifecycle and governance. This presentation intends to provide a holistic view for the cloud computing evolution and shared service adoption in Federal Government.Key takeaways:

1. Cloud computing is an effort of continuous evolution in Federal Government towards service orientation and shared services, with efforts from Federal Enterprise Architecture, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Federal Infrastructure Optimization Initiative.

 2. Cloud computing is a conceptual evolution from many of our past efforts, such as grid computing, utility computing, virtualization, distributed computing, SOA, SOI, Web Service, Application Service Provider (ASP), Internet Service Provider (ISP), etc. New technologies and solutions will add more efficiency during marching in the direction.

 3. Appropriate business management and operation mechanisms (e.g. suitable business models, service models, funding models, operation models) must be in place in order to practice cloud computing and shared services successfully.

 4. Shared service domain is a sub-domain in an enterprise, which should be appropriately identified and implemented

http://www.opengroup.org/events/timetable/1548