In-Depth
Enterprising Mind
What does the defection of former IBM Chief Software Architect Don Ferguson mean for Microsoft's platform ambitions?
When Microsoft Corp. snatched the chief architect of IBM Corp.'s WebSphere application server platform from his perch at Big Blue earlier this year it raised a few eyebrows. After all, it's not often that an IBM fellow walks away from such a prestigious post. More compelling, however, is the impact Don Ferguson's unlikely exodus from Armonk to Redmond could have on the software development community.
A decade ago Ferguson helped pioneer the concept of Web services, with his groundbreaking work on the IBM WebSphere platform. Launched in 1998 and utilizing novel object-oriented database and application-integration technology tied together with early Web services components, WebSphere helped transform the way information is shared among businesses and generated a vast ecosystem of products and vendors for IBM.
Despite an official wall of silence at Microsoft around the defection, an examination of Ferguson's accomplishments and interviews with those who know the luminary who spent 22 years at IBM suggests that he could shape the direction of Microsoft in the years to come. Ferguson could also help Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie rewrite Redmond's playbook for the Windows platform of the future.
To what extent Ferguson ultimately will help Microsoft fill a gaping hole in its development and infrastructure software -- cross-platform integration -- remains to be seen. Some believe if anyone can play a significant role in orchestrating those changes, though, it's Ferguson.
Ferguson's accomplishments in the area of computing and networking services are extensive. In addition to shepherding WebSphere, Ferguson guided IBM's service-oriented architecture (SOA) strategy, and as head of the company's Software Group Architecture Board had technical oversight of the DB2, Lotus, Tivoli and Rational product lines. He was also active in the formation and adoption of Web services standards.
In the annals of high-profile software business defections, Ferguson's move from IBM to Microsoft may not rank as the most captivating or controversial. But few defections may end up being more important in shaping the future technical direction of Microsoft.
Enterprise Envy
With products like SQL Server 2005, Windows Server 2003 and the upcoming Longhorn Server operating system, Microsoft has gained a toehold within enterprise-class environments. But most observers agree that Microsoft has yet to fully challenge key rivals like IBM, Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. Poaching IBM's chief software architect seems a logical way to step up the enterprise effort.
"Microsoft hasn't done a great job in getting into the enterprise space," says independent analyst David Linthicum of the Linthicum Group, based in Reston, Va. "They're looking to win, and the way they win is by going out and getting the right people."
Microsoft officials won't say specifically what Ferguson is working on. But Forrester analyst John Rymer believes it's a safe bet that he's focusing on his core competency -- and an area of weakness for Microsoft: distributed computing of business applications.
"IBM has a great position with a distributed computing platform in large corporate data centers," writes Rymer in an e-mail to Redmond Developer News, "Distributed computing platforms are the next generation."
If he was in Ray Ozzie's shoes, Rymer says he would have Ferguson start work on two projects that leverage his strengths in Web services and high-performance enterprise systems: "First: Ozzie's top (stated) priority is development of a platform that combines on-premise and hosted facilities. A Salesforce.com and Google Killer. Second: [Target] the next generation of .NET (whatever it's called) -- build in scalability and flexibility to handle workloads of large scale and workloads requiring integration of diverse and old systems."
Heady stuff, to be sure, but why would someone who IBM anointed as a fellow -- a distinction afforded only the most tenured architects -- leave to go to a key rival? One need look no further than Ozzie, himself the father of IBM's Lotus Notes, says Forrester analyst Jeffrey Hammond. He says Ozzie just might have made Ferguson an offer he couldn't refuse.
"I can't imagine Don going over to Microsoft unless Ozzie's got some kind of plan afoot to get beyond the Windows-only mentality," Hammond says. "Ozzie probably put something out there that he couldn't not do."
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Straight Swap
IBM has 200,000 total technical employees but just 61 fellows. Being named a fellow is like being knighted or appointed to the Supreme Court. Such positions come with a lot of autonomy and clout.
"They get their own budgets, they can do whatever they want with those budgets, they can work on whatever they want," says Hammond "It's basically a technician's dream position. The fact that somebody would choose to leave that for any reason was highly surprising."
That may explain the cool reaction of IBM's top software executive, Senior Vice President Steve Mills, who spoke with RDN. Mills dismissed Ferguson's departure as unfortunatebut hardly crippling. He also downplayed Ferguson's recent efforts at IBM, noting that Jerry Cuomo is the current architect for WebSphere.
"Jerry really has been driving the next wave of development on WebSphere," Mills says. "Don certainly added value, but no one person designs these things."
At Microsoft, Ferguson now holds the title of technical fellow of platforms and strategy in the Office of the CTO. The company has declined to specify his role.
Don Ferguson is a self-described man of few words who earned the nickname "Silent Don" in college. When he does express himself publicly, Ferguson marries plainspoken analysis and comment with a bracing wit.
One example is his stated approach to software development, found on his IBM blog. "Less code is good," he writes. "A colleague once said to me, 'It is very hard to make software simpler by adding more software.' He is right. I keep phrases in my mind to help me remember and focus; this is one."
Ferguson earned the moniker "father of WebSphere" for his work developing IBM's sprawling line of enterprise software and tools, which has become a mainstay in large companies across the globe. Ferguson himself is uncomfortable with the informal title, preferring to credit his various colleagues.
At the heart of the line is the WebSphere Application Server (WAS). Over the years IBM has greatly extended the suite with a range of offerings, including WebSphere Business Modeler, WebSphere Extended Deployment and WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus.
WebSphere has certainly had a huge impact in the enterprise over the past decade. The most recent data from IDC shows IBM number one overall in the application server software platform market, with a 43 percent share. BEA Systems Inc. and Oracle rank second and third with 17.5 and 11 percent, respectively.
Microsoft's position in the SOA arena is less established, according to IDC. The company has developed a range of technologies that enable SOA, such as Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) for creating Web interoperable distributed apps, and Windows Workflow Foundation, a programming model for developing workflow-enabled apps. Microsoft's BizTalk business process management server can act as an enterprise service bus, the de facto traffic cop of SOA.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is moving quickly to build on the new developments; it has already released a CTP of .NET 3.5, which includes a range of improvements and extensions to the 3.0 components, including deeper support for Web services standards and toolkits for creating workflow-enabled services and AJAX-based Web applications with WCF.
Burley Kawasaki, group product manager for BizTalk Server in Microsoft's Connected Systems Division, says the company also intends to leverage its dominance on the client end by fostering development atop Office 2007 with SOA in mind. Still to come is the next incarnation of Windows Server, "Longhorn," which Microsoft has said will include major improvements in scalability and a unified Web development platform.
It's a lot to manage, but Ferguson has experience in this area, Redmonk analyst James Governor notes in a blog post: "It was quite simply not Don's job to hack away at the towering edifice of IBM legacy code, but rather to make sure that everything worked together where possible."
Microsoft's SOA portfolio is far from complete in other areas, says longtime industry analyst Judith Hurwitz of Hurwitz Consulting. "There are still many issues, including everything from SOA management to federated identity management," she says. "I think that Microsoft's SOA strategy works best when it's a fairly homogenous approach. They have more trouble in complex, heterogeneous environments."
| 'Silent Don' Has His Say |
Where Ferguson sees software in five years:
- Software appliances and configurations integrated with virtual middleware
- Situational applications and end-user Web programming
- An enterprise software architecture that includes open source, good enough middleware and products from IBM and other companies
- SOA tied with business policy/rules
- Composite applications and business services
- Software evolving to exploit next-generation hardware, such as multi-core and intelligent network storage
- SOA and EDA
- Web-based control of data and storage
- Recipes, patterns and templates
- Web 2.0
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| --Source: Ferguson blog via IBM Corp. |
Seeking Buy In
One thing the Ferguson acquisition can't do is turn back the clock. Linthicum says Microsoft may opt to buy its way into the SOA market, rather than take the time to build out an extended SOA stack on its own.
"I think acquisitions are going to be on their radar screen," he says. "[They've] got to be, to round out their stack."
Linthicum says Microsoft would benefit most from existing governance players just as webMethods Inc. did with the acquisition of Infravio.
Ferguson may ultimately revisit the ambassadorial role he played at IBM, working to forge relationships with other big vendors around SOA standards and interoperability, according to observers.
"I think he has always done a good job of working across the technology landscape, whether it's with other companies or working with standards bodies," Hammond says. "He has a record of building consensus at the industry level."
One such opportunity is work Ferguson has already been involved in -- the service component architecture (SCA) specification, which is designed to make SOA less complex.
"SCA began life as an IBM and BEA-led project, but it may now be a foundation for a WS-* 2.0 reboot between IBM and Microsoft," Governor writes in a blog posting.
SCA, along with service data objects (SDO), are SOA standards being pushed by an 18-member vendor group, the Open SOA Collaboration. SCA consists of specifications that describe a model for building SOA services. SDO are aimed at unifying how SOA apps pull and use data from heterogeneous data sources.
At this point, Microsoft has a different official position on where that's headed. In mid-March, the coalition handed off a set of SCA and SDO specs to the OASIS standards body. Microsoft is not part of the coalition, and apparently has no plans to join.
"Microsoft is very active and will continue to work with broad industry standards to ensure interoperability," says Thom Robbins, director of .NET Platform Product Management. "At this point, Microsoft is not hearing from customers that SCA/SDO is on their minds."
Will Ferguson's second act match his accomplishments to date? It's an open question, especially in the realm of SOA strategy.
"[Microsoft] needs to understand that SOA as a concept is much more holistic and systemic," Linthicum says. "If you think Microsoft is going to come along and give you their whole stack and everything is going to be good, you're mistaken."
Ozzie might have hired Ferguson to help reshape that mindset, suggests Burton Group analyst Peter O'Kelly. "He's one of those people who really transcend the fray," O'Kelly says. "He's someone who's clearly not drinking the Kool-Aid, saying Microsoft is the only way."