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Chapter SpotlightAEA Bangalore ChapterSatish K. SreenivasaiahKeywordsAEA, Chapter, BangaloreThe idea of pursuing and re-kindling the AEA BangaloreChapter event germinated at The Open Group event inBangalore during the third week of February 2015. Bythe end of two days of insightful sessions on EnterpriseArchitecture (EA), its challenges, and the opportunitiesthat lie ahead for Enterprise Architects in the digitaleconomy, the local architecture community wanted toconnect, share, and collaborate more to keep abreast ofthe latest happenings in the EA space.This thought paved the way for subsequent meetingswith the AEA Bangalore Chapter Lead, Sreekanth Iyerand the core AEA team to discuss the agenda, venue,and relevant logistics for the event. After deliberating onthe plan ahead, the team quickly got into action and,finalized the date of April 9, 2015 for the meet.Topics to be covered and the speakers for the meetwere crowdsourced from the AEA community and finallyzeroed in on the following exciting EA talks. M2M Platform – Architecture & Realization byPrakash Shivappa, Solutions Architect –Happiestminds Web Application Hosting – Cloud Architecture &Realization by Sreekanth Iyer, Executive ITArchitect, IBM Introduction to ArchiMate 2.1 by ParameswaranSeshan, Principal Consultant, CC&C SolutionsIt was decided that the venue would be at the TCS officein the heart of Bangalore. (Thanks to TCS for thevenue.) The event kicked off as planned at 4.00pm withthe enthusiastic crowd eager to share and learn thelatest happenings in the Internet of Things (IoT), its casestudy, cloud architecture realization, and the EAmodeling language.Satish Sreenivasaiah from TCS Product TrustworthyCoE welcomed the AEA members, delivered theopening speech, and invited Mr. Kishore Banavar, TCSHead – Banking Technologies Group, North America todeliver the keynote address.Kishore did touch upon all the key actions that EA as acommunity needs to adopt to be relevant for our Journal of Enterprise Architecture – 2015 No. 1stakeholders – like bridging the gap between businessand technology and owning the digital strategy forenterprises. He emphasized that the future of EA doesnot confine itself to the boundaries of an enterprise butgoes beyond to the industry, and hence EnterpriseArchitects should gear themselves to solve the EAchallenges by sharing and building industry-levelpatterns. He also stressed the need to have prescriptivearchitecture to deliver the new age solutions at the pacethat clients are expecting.In the subsequent sessions, Prakash Shivappa fromHappiestminds presented an IoT case study andexplained the M2M platform architecture adopted, usingsimple analogies. He explained the differences architecture and the IoT architecture implemented. Themultiple layers of the architecture were detailed such asthe device/sensor layer, preparation layer where amessage gets appended with an IP address, theaggregator, big data analytics layer, and finally thesubscriber layer. The growing field of M2Mcommunication and IoT was reinforced in the session.The second session planned was cloud architecturerealization in the context of web application hosting bySreekanth Iyer from IBM. He talked about the CloudStandards Customer Council (CSCC) and containersbased on Docker . It helped the audience tounderstand the concept of leveraging the Dockercapabilities to deploy a container. Being a new area formost of the participants, the session provided insightsinto this upcoming technology space.Lastly, Parameswaran Seshan from CC&C Solutionstalked about the need of Enterprise Architects adoptingthe right modeling language for capturing businessrequirements and depicting it visually addressingmultiple  stakeholders’  perspectives.  He  also  talked  aboutvarious open source and COTS tools for EA modeling, the differences between UML and ArchiMate, andexplained  that  “no  one  tool  fits  all”  and  hence  adoption  ofthe right tools for the right purpose was extremelycritical.7

All the talks were followed by Q&A from enthusiasticparticipants. It was a great two hours spentunderstanding the trends in the EA space andnetworking with like-minded EA professionals. A briefplan was charted for the next AEA meeting in May 2015.REFERENCESCloud Standards Customer Council (CSCC): Web ApplicationHosting Cloud Architecture; refer to: The event ended by the host thanking all participantsand the speakers for delivering top-class presentationsat short notice.ABOUT THE AUTHORSatish K. Sreenivasaiah is a consultant in TataConsultancy Services based in Bangalore. He is part ofthe Product Trustworthy Centre of Excellence that isresponsible for ensuring software security andperformance. He has 16 years of experience in the ITindustry and has held various positions includingSolutions Architect, Lead Architect, Practice Manager,and Relationship Manager across different geographies.He is also an Open Group Master Certified IT Architectand a Certified Ethical Hacker. He has authoredtechnical articles for external and internal publicationsand has been a regular speaker at national andinternational technology forums.8 Journal of Enterprise Architecture – 2015 No. 1

Chapter SpotlightNew York Metro ChapterJoe MaisselKeywordsAEA, Chapter, New York MetroThe New York Metro Chapter of the AEA has over 40members   and   is   growing   fast.   We’ve   held   three   lively,engaging, and informative meetings. We are currentlyplanning our next meeting and are hoping to hold alarge-scale event in the Fall. Our Chapter is movingforward nicely.But  it  wasn’t  always  so.In early 2014 I was changing jobs. I wanted to meetEnterprise Architects in the New York region. I looked fora New York Chapter of the AEA and was surprised tolearn that while both Boston and DC had activechapters, there was nothing in New York. How could thisbe? I contacted the AEA and learned that, sure enough,no one had been able to get a chapter off the ground inNew York.I wondered what it would take to get a chapter startedmyself. Why not take the opportunity if no one else had?It   wouldn’t   be   long   before  I  found  out   why   it   was  not   sosimple in New York.When I called the AEA, it was Birgit Hartje whoanswered the phone and explained the situation in NewYork. She also talked me through what it would take toget a chapter going. I would need to appoint officers: aChair (me), a Vice-Chair, and a Secretary or Treasurer.That much I figured I could do. I called a couple of myformer colleagues from Western Union, Sarose Dassand Jan Stobbe, and they stepped up to the plate.Sarose became Vice-Chair and Jan our Secretary.Birgit recommended that I connect with other AEAChairs that had started their own chapters. She put mein touch with EA luminary Mike Walker. Mike is the Chairof the Texas Chapter and had built it from the ground upto the point where they were holding large events. I hadmet Mike at an Open Group event in 2013. When Ireached him, he generously offered to mentor me onrunning a chapter. He met with me on two differentoccasions and took me through his overall approach,possible pitfalls, and listened patiently as I bouncedideas off him. It was a huge help.But we would, of course, need a place to meet. Journal of Enterprise Architecture – 2015 No. 1Meeting space in Manhattan is hard to come by. OK,that’s  not  quite  true,  FREE  meeting  space  in  Manhattanis hard to come by (that  isn’t  in  a  public  park!).  It  was  abit of a catch 22. We were a non-entity with no membersto provide space (I did not have an employer that couldhelp), and without space we could not get established.My former employer, Western Union, does not have astrong office footprint in Manhattan, and so it wasunclear how to proceed. I turned to my co-founders,Sarose and Jan, for suggestions.Sarose was still working for Western Union, spendingmany days in Western Union’s   Lower Manhattan office.That particular office did have a very small conferenceroom (max capacity 12), and initially we considered itjust too small for an AEA meeting. But it was all we had.It was now early Fall and we wanted to get something onthe calendar. So Sarose went ahead and reserved thesmall room for Friday, November 14, 2014.At AEA headquarters, Birgit put together a list of all AEAmembers in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, andPennsylvania. I composed a chapter kick-offannouncement and Birgit sent it out. AEA membershiplists are not freely distributed so Birgit has to be the oneto send out email broadcasts. The email directed anyonewho was interested in the chapter to contact me directly.The response was great. I received over a dozen emailsfrom people expressing interest. I now had a chaptermailing list. I sent out information confirming our meetingtime and location and a proposed agenda. We were onour way! Or so I thought. Just two weeks before themeeting, Sarose called to tell me that Western Union HRwould not approve the use of the conference room forour meeting! What to do? I thought for sure we weresunk.Sharon and IBM to the rescue.I sent out an email to the newly formed chaptermembership apprising them of the situation, asking(pleading/begging) if anyone had access to meetingspace in Manhattan. Right away, Sharon Bowden fromIBM came back with an offer of an IBM conference roomin Lower Manhattan. Suddenly we had new life!9

On   the   day   of   our   first   meeting   I   was   excited   but   didn’tknow what to expect. I made my way to the IBM officesand up to the meeting room. About a dozen peopleshowed up. Yay! We had a nice mix of EnterpriseArchitects representing a variety of organizations – largetechnology companies, niche EA vendors, independentconsultants like myself, and several others working in EApractices inside Fortune 500 companies or universities.After a round of introductions, handing out copies of theJournal of EA, and explaining how the chapter came tobe, we started to explore what our new chapter shouldfocus   on.   Someone   raised   the   question:   “What   is   theelevator   pitch   for   the   value   of   Enterprise   Architecture?”The conversation took off from there. It seemed that thistopic   was   on   a   lot   of   people’s   minds.   There   was   acommon   concern   that   Enterprise   Architects   don’t   haveany easy way to describe the value of what they do totheir peers and to executives. The conversation flowedfreely, around and across the table, debating how best todescribe the value of our profession. After a while werealized that there was a lot more to say about thesubject than we could cover in our first meeting. Wedecided right there that we had the perfect topic for ournext meeting.Now that we had the topic, we needed to come up withan effective format to explore it. Pretty quickly we settledon having chapter members put together shortpresentations on the topic to be given at the nextmeeting. We agreed to issue a  “Call  for  Presentations”  amonth or so in advance of the next session.Other ideas for chapter activities were explored includingholding an executive briefing. We would bring together agroup of executives, pitch them on the value of EA, andsolicit their feedback. Another idea was to hold a jointsession with another AEA chapter such as Boston orDC. There were several more, and we decided to remainopen-minded about future possibilities. Our main goalhad been met, namely getting the chapter underway.We also made the decision to keep the officersunchanged, and to not be a dues paying chapter. Wewanted, and still want, to make being a chapter memberas easy as possible. Not having dues also keeps theadministrative overhead to a minimum. We did make arule that you must be an AEA member to attend morethan two meetings.With a core membership established, I hoped it would bemuch easier to find a place to meet. Sure enough bothPaul Brown from TIBCO and Alan Crosswell fromColumbia University offered us meeting space. What arelief! In New York, finding space is the hardest thingand I felt a huge weight lifted off the  chapter’s  proverbialback.10Our second meeting on February 13, 2015 was held atColumbia. The call for presentations was answered bysix different members, each giving engaging andthought-provoking talks on the value of EA. We openedthe session up to remote users via WebEx (thanks to theAEA for providing a WebEx account!). In fact, four of thesix presentations were given remotely. When they werefinished, a lively discussion ensued. We ran out of timeand a number of us found ourselves hanging outafterwards, continuing the discussion. We kept talking aswe walked down the street, then on to the subway, andall the way until we reached our stops and had to partways.Our third meeting on May 8, 2015 was held at TIBCO.Once again the call for presentations yielded thoughtfulpresentations   on   the   meeting   theme   “Making   EA   aReality”.   And,   as   before,   the   conversations   theygenerated spilled out beyond the meeting’s boundaries.We talked in the elevator and out onto the street andthen had to agree that for future meetings we need toschedule an optional lunch for post-meeting discussions!For our next meeting the chapter agreed to formalize itsby-laws, hold officer elections in the Fall (at our one-yearmark), and develop a chapter mission and valuesstatement. We are very excited about the future of theAEA New York Metro Chapter.If you would like to learn more about us, see meetingnotes, and keep up with our activities, please go to ourchapter page on the AEA website.Hope to see you at our next meeting!SUMMARYChapter launch in a box: Confirm there are no other chapters in your area Pull a couple of other architects together to be yourofficers Fill out the form on the AEA website Pick a place and a date Have the AEA send out an email blast to AEAmembers in your region Meet, elect officers, establish by-laws, talk EA, holda big event (if that works!), rinse, repeatABOUT THE AUTHORJoe Maissel is a recognized expert in EnterpriseArchitecture tools, and the current Chair of the New YorkMetro Chapter of the Association of EnterpriseArchitects. With a long career in many facets ofarchitecture, systems engineering, and education, Joe feels at home teaching TOGAF courses and providingtraining on Enterprise Architecture toolsets. Journal of Enterprise Architecture – 2015 No. 1

Joe started his career as an entrepreneur. Hisgroundbreaking website work on soundwire.com wasfeatured in numerous books, magazines, and periodicalsincluding Wired Magazine and The New York Times. Joewas a featured speaker at conferences focused on theInternet and entertainment. He parlayed his passion forthe web into an IT Infrastructure and SystemsArchitecture career, building middleware and unifiedcommunications systems for investment banks such asCredit Suisse and JP Morgan Chase. He was selected tochair the Financial Services Instant MessagingAssociation (FIMA), which he led for three years, andbecame an elected member of the XMPP StandardsFoundation (XSF). Joe was the creator and primaryinstructor  for  “Web  Architecture  and  Infrastructure”  whichwas offered at NYU from 2001 through 2008. The coursebecame required curriculum for students pursuingcertification in web programming. Recently, Joe ledWestern   Union’s   effort   to   adopt   Enterprise   Architecture tools and methodologies. He introduced the use of UMLtools and worked to build a full EA modeling practice based on the TOGAF and ArchiMate industrystandards. Journal of Enterprise Architecture – 2015 No. 111

Four QuestionsA Practicing Architect Asks and Answers Four Questions of Their Own ChoosingJason UppalQuestion 1: You are a Mechanical Engineer and anEconomist by training; how did you end up as a ChiefArchitect, now leading a major transformation program inhealthcare?Engineering education, in my opinion, is one of the besteducation platforms for an architect because it teacheshow to think and how precisely to separate the problemdefinition and solution development phases. Theapplication of this skill in healthcare is like low hangingfruit. There are only a few problems when it comes toimproving the delivery of healthcare, but the solutions wehave are so complex, we spend most of our energy andtime managing inherent complexity in the solutions, cation is key to improving healthcare qualityand cost, but most Healthcare Information Technologysolutions  don’t  address  this  simple  problem  head  on.Question 2: From your experience what is the biggestchallenge for EA professionals in the market place andwhat can professional associations like AEA, or consortialike The Open Group and others, do to help?It always comes down to a supply and demand, chickenand egg scenario. We, as an Enterprise Architecture(EA) industry, have not done a very good job at definingexactly what we do and what we as professionals takeresponsibility and accountability for. If architectureprofessionals want to be taken seriously in the enterprisethey have to put a stake in the ground. Just likeIndustrial Engineers were the right-hand person of aPlant Manager, EA professionals need to be the righthand person of the CIO and every other line of businessexecutive, and then we have to take responsibility for theperformance of enterprise capabilities just like theindustrial engineer. When we have demand then we canstart to create supply. There are lot of people inorganizations who are ready to fill this role.what obstacles do we as an industry need to overcometo help them position these services. The 13-month longjourney to share our proposed model with broad EApractitioners revealed remarkable insight. We will besharing our findings at The Open Group event inBaltimore in July 2015. Looking at all the data wecollected, one insight we gleaned is that the market isready and we just need to step up to the plate.So far we have gained good insight into the state of EAprofessionals in enterprises. The next step is to engagemore EA professionals to finalize the EA servicesdelivery model with complete guides and examples andhand this material to an organization like the AEA or TheOpen Group to further develop, manage, and distribute.The challenge will be and often is to communicatebroadly and make it self-sustaining.Question 4: What advice can you give to an aspiringengineer, manager, system developer, or a futureEnterprise Architect?I am not big on advice, as I feel what I know is notenough. But Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut oncestsaid: you need three things to succeed in life – 1ndbecome very good at what you do, 2 become arddecision-maker, and 3 take care of your health. I canadd that aspiring EA professionals should build goodrelationships with their stakeholders, take responsibilityfor results, and solve the real problem.ABOUT THE ARCHITECTJason Uppal is a P.Eng, Open CA Level 3 Certified ChiefArchitect. Currently Jason is working on two projects –architect, build, and distribute enterprise capabilities tomake Zero Patient Harm a reality, and bring EnterpriseArchitecture education to Indian higher educationinstitutions.Jason can be reached at Jason.uppal@icarequality.org.Question 3: Your recent research project – Moving EAbeyond Modeling and Advisory – what were you hoping toaccomplish with this and where do you expect to take it?I started this project with two research questions – first,what services should an EA professional provide in orderto be considered a direct value generator, and second,12 Journal of Enterprise Architecture – 2015 No. 1

Four QuestionsA Practicing Architect Asks and Answers Four Questions of Their Own ChoosingDr. Steve Else PhDQuestion 1: What are your overall impressions about thepractice of EA in 2015?The people interested in Enterprise Architecture (EA) areoften IT people, very talented ones, but not necessarilythe best ones to explain what it is and why it matters.Whereas many IT pro

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