SOA, Virtualization and Grid ComputingSOA, Virtualization and Grid ComputingDo They Guarantee Agility or a Reduction in Do They Guarantee Agility or a Reduction in
IT Complexity IT Complexity
Frank EnfantoVice President, Healthcare Systems Delivery
Blue Cross Blue Shield, Massachusetts
About BCBS of Massachusetts
• Based in Boston
• Largest health insurance provider in the state
• 2.9 million members
• 17,000+ participating physicians
• 4000+ employees
• Rated 1 of the 5 best US health plans by National Committee for Quality Assurance
• Founded in 1937
IT Agility
• What is IT Agility?• What does it mean to me?• What do I need to achieve it?• What do I do first?• What products do I buy?• How do I know when I have achieved it?• Will it reduce IT Complexity?
Business Challenges• Cost Control
Provide resources for members/patients that help them become more proactive about healthcare and minimize need for medical treatment
Keep IT/development costs in check• Time to market
Deliver applications and new features faster to support members/patients, providers and other constituencies
• ScalabilityStable business platform to support growthFlexible horizontal capacity (i.e., hardware) to
enable efficient and rapid scalability rather than building out many vertical silos
BCBSMA Approach
• Evaluate Ability to Respond• Biggest Need• Create a Roadmap• Develop a Plan• Take Advantage of Everything
Agile Infrastructure
• Initiated 2 years ago• Moved from an infrastructure that was
vertical and monolithic to that is more agile horizontal
• Created a mindset and a new way of thinking
Challenges
• Architecture Completely Vertical• Budget Constraints• Cultural Concerns• Replacement not a Consolidation
Results
• Agile/Horizontal Infrastructure• New DR/BC Capabilities• 3 Year Mandatory Funding• ILM Strategy• Business/Finance/Governance
Advocates• Created a Mindset
LDAP DataReplicatedwith Plano
Sun WebServer 6.0
Cisco CS11000(Managed by BCBSMA)
BCBSMA Enterprise Production Environment (Boston)
LoadBalancingFirewalls
WebServers
ApplicationClusters
DatabaseServers
DirectoryStores
IdentityServices
Sun LDAP Directory Server 5.2
Sun IdentityServer 6.1
BEA WebLogic 8.1(Java JDK 1.4)
Oracle 9i
Unallocated
BEA WebLogic8.1
Oracle 9i
DOM 1
DOM 2
DOM 3
DOM 4
CustomApplications
Oracle 9i
BEA WebLogic8.1
CustomApplications
DOM 1
DOM 2
DOM 3
DOM 4
Oracle 9i
Unallocated
BEA WebLogic8.1
Oracle 9i
DOM 2
DOM 3
DOM 4
DOM 1
LegacyConnect
ContentMgmt Interwoven
Teamsite 6.0
SeeBeyond andMQ Series Server
Why SOA
• Reusability Minimize risk
Eliminate need to reinvent the wheel on every project
Reduce development and integration workload
• Business agility Abstraction layer to simplify and accelerate change
Process orchestration to maximize productivity
Elimination of data and application silos
• Cost-effectiveness Extend lifecycle of older IT assets
Faster time to market = lower opportunity cost
IT able to tackle many small, discreet projects rather a few large, monolithic projects
SOA Approach
• Assess current capabilities (From an SOA maturity perspective)
• Identify gaps in capabilities and barriers/obstacles hindering adoption
• Develop and implement action plans and initiatives to close the gap and eliminate the barriers/obstacles
Focus of Assessment
PracticePlatform
People ProcessWho - Cultural Change,
Training, EducationWhat – Core Business
Processes, Business Capabilities
How – Best Practices, Solutions, Frameworks,
Blueprints
Where - Development/Deployment/
Mgmt. Infrastructure(Software, Hardware)
SOA
Assessment Approach
ImplementTransformation
Develop SOARecommendations
and action plan
Identify Gaps& Barriers
Discovery
Assess process
Assess Practice
Assess People
Assess Platform
Monitor – Review - Adapt
Gap Analysis Focus Areas
PracticePlatform
People Process
SOA
Leadership& Guidance
Organization& Culture Training &
Mentoring
ServiceMgmt &
Monitoring
MiddlewareESB JBI
CompositeApplication
Mgmt
Security & Identity Mgmt
Shared Framework
ComputePlatform
ChannelManagement
BusinessServices
Businessprocess
DomainModel
InfrastructureServices
Modernization
Plan
SOAAdoption Strategy
SOA SDLCMethodology
SOA Reference
Architecture
SOA Governance
Project Delivery
Assurance
= Priority area of focus
P
P
P
P P
P
Key Components to Success
• Educate Everyone• Define Roles and Skill Sets• Executive Sponsorship• Build into SDLC and Funding Process• Clear Deliverables• Iterative Process • Effective Governance Model
Next Steps
• Finish Assessments• Integrate with Current Processes• Complete Roadmap • Complete Reference Architecture• Identify Opportunities• Keep Moving Forward
Virtualization - Why
• Consolidation – Reduces Footprint• Optimizes Server Resources• Improves Reliability & Serviceability• Potentially Reduces Platforms• Reduces New Server Deployments• Cost Savings
Virtualization at BCBSMA
• Resource Utilization• Configuration Flexibility• Scalability• File and Print• Network Monitoring