Agile has deep roots both inside and outside the enterprise, enabling us to excel at enterprise integration. We have the enterprise infrastructure and architecture knowledge needed to create seamlessly-integrated web applications. Yet our roots also extend outside the enterprise, into Open Source and the emergent web, enabling us to bring innovation and fresh perspectives to your organization.
Inside the Box: Core Enterprise Know-how
Since our inception, Agile has collaborated closely with our client's IT organizations to create enterprise-integrated web applications. Our expertise includes:- Commercial and open source web application servers, from BEA and WebSphere to JBoss and Tomcat.
- Web-layer infrastructure, including load balancers, web and application server clustering, front-end caching and CDN optimization.
- Enterprise security infrastructure, including LDAP directory services and single-sign-on systems.
- Enterprise development languages and tools, including the Java language, Java IDEs like Borland JBuilder, and configuration management tools such as Rational ClearCase.
- Widely-used enterprise development architectures such as basic JSP / servlet and Apache Struts.
- Enterprise integration architectures, centered around loosely coupled, service oriented architectures and the web services stack.
Outside the Box: Open Source and the Emergent Web
Agile is an enthusiastic participant in the Open Source movement and what we term the "emergent web" -- the ever-shifting crest of web innovation that encompasses such concepts as Web 2.0 and the Web API. Our extra-enterprise perspective enables us to think outside the box, looking beyond conventional enterprise solutions to embrace web innovations.
For example, consider version control and configuration management. Many enterprises have invested heavily in commercial solutions such as Rational ClearCase. However, even as these investments continue, the Open Source community is demonstrating the impressive power of simple and elegant tools such as CVS and Subversion. The same situation exists in other areas:
- Heavyweight commercial application servers such as WebLogic and Websphere, versus lighter-weight Open Source alternatives like Tomcat and Jetty.
- Heavyweight J2EE+EJB solutions, versus micro-containers like Spring.
- Dated JSP-Servlet or Struts frameworks, versus the Cocoon framework with native XML pipelining.
- Traditional SQL / stored procedure database development, versus object-relational solutions like OJB and Hibernate.
- Complex WS-* web services approach, versus the simpler REST model.