Levy, who joined BEA just after the AquaLogic rollout in June, previously was technology strategist for Computer Associates, where he helped developed the new Enterprise IT Management (EITM) strategy. Prior to that, he was involved with formulating strategy for CA’s AllFusion tools products.
After joining BEA, one of his first tasks was rationalizing the new acquisition of Plumtree alongside BEA’s existing portal technology. The new portal was viewed as complimentary technology because it supported Microsoft .NET, while BEA’s existing portal was based on the WebLogic Java architecture.
His goals are to speed up incubation of new technologies in house, with areas such as device connectivity at the top of the menu.
Another focus will be on business processes, an area where Levy admits BEA’s boxes are still rather empty. Among the blanks to be filled are how to physically establish orchestration, and where you do the simulation and modeling.
We asked Levy about BEA’s initial strategy to restrict support of process orchestration to the WebLogic application platform, rather than on its new AquaLogic Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). Just after BEA’s ESB announcement in the summer, their strategy was to reserve the ESB for simple, lightweight transactions, because complex orchestrations would add excessive overhead.
Levy indicates that BEA will revisit this issue in the next six months.
