Useful Books and Software

In view of the spectacular successes of business pioneers such as Cisco and FedEx, there can no longer be any doubt that the future of business is inextricably bound up with the Internet. Written by the top e-business strategists at KPMG Consulting/Metrius, Digital Transformation provides executives with a road map for leading their companies through the transition from business to e-business. Based, in large part, on extensive interviews with those at the forefront of the e-business revolution, Digital Transformation cuts through the hype and confusion surrounding doing business on the Internet to reveal the fundamental principles behind the digital transformation currently underway. Executives learn from "the source" how to make the transition to a fully Internet-enabled organization Includes tips and insights from Cisco CEO John Chambers, Dan Shulman, President of Priceline.com, and other e-business gurus Reveals why some companies have been so successful while others tried and failed

New Price: $9.99 / Used Price: n.a.

SOA Using Java™ Web Services is a hands-on guide to implementing Web services and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) with today’s Java EE 5 and Java SE 6 platforms. Author Mark Hansen presents in explicit detail the information that enterprise developers and architects need to succeed, from best-practice design techniques to state-of-the-art code samples.

Hansen covers creating, deploying, and invoking Web services that can be composed into loosely coupled SOA applications. He begins by reviewing the “big picture,� including the challenges of Java-based SOA development and the limitations of traditional approaches. Next, he systematically introduces the latest Java Web Services (JWS) APIs and walks through creating Web services that integrate into a comprehensive SOA solution. Finally, he shows how application frameworks based on JWS can streamline the entire SOA development process and introduces one such framework: SOA-J.

The book

• Introduces practical techniques for managing the complexity of Web services and SOA, including best-practice design examples
• Offers hard-won insights into building effective SOA applications with Java Web Services
• Illuminates recent major JWS improvements–including two full chapters on JAX-WS 2.0
• Thoroughly explains SOA integration using WSDL, SOAP, Java/XML mapping, and JAXB 2.0 data binding
• Walks step by step through packaging and deploying Web services components on Java EE 5 with JSR-181 (WS-Metadata 2.0) and JSR-109
• Includes specific code solutions for many development issues, from publishing REST endpoints to consuming SOAP services with WSDL
• Presents a complete case study using the JWS APIs, together with an Ajax front end, to build a SOA application integrating Amazon, Yahoo Shopping, and eBay
• Contains hundreds of code samples–all tested with the GlassFish Java EE 5 reference implementation–that are downloadable from the companion Web site, http://soabook.com.

New Price: $38.75 / Used Price: $39.18

The fifth edition of this popular book presents the fundamental concepts of data communications, networking, distributed applications, and network management and security; and uses real world case studies to explicate business environment and business management and staff issues. Up-to-date coverage of key issues-the use of the Internet, intranets, and extranets support business objectives, LANs, WANs, high-speed networks, asychronous transfer mode (ATM) and TCP/IP. Accessible presentation for information systems managers, telecommunications managers, product marketing personnel, and system support specialists.

New Price: $82.99 / Used Price: $16.95

It's hard to remember a time when there wasn't a computer on every desktop, but in 1981, engineers had to stand in line to use their company's mainframes. Sun's business strategy was to sell a desktop workstation for each employee who needed a computer. On top of that, Sun allowed those workstations to exchange data via an intracompany network, and used graphical interfaces to make them easier to navigate. Standard stuff now, but a radical series of concepts back then, and it was inevitable that Sun would clash with Microsoft. Sun CEO Scott McNealy's enmity for the software colossus is well-known--he was a key player in the U.S. government's antitrust action against Microsoft in the late 1990s--and it temporarily scattered the company's focus, leading to a major reorganization.

The conclusion to the Sun story is, of course, unknown. Southwick ends her book with a peek into the future, speculating on what will become of promising computer languages like Java and Jini. But it seems like it'll be a long time before Sun sets. --Lou Schuler

Publisher: Wiley
Author: Karen Southwick
Release Date: 1999-08-13
ISBN/EAN: 0471297135 / 9780471297130

New Price: $3.00 / Used Price: $0.01

This book teaches you how to use BizTalk Server as an Enterprise Application Integration tool, to integrate applications into co-operating systems. It is especially suited to rapid deployment B2B and B2C e-commerce applications, where you need to integrate with legacy applications.

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 facilitates the exchange of information between business partners in more or less nonproprietary formats based on XML (extensible markup language). Professional BizTalk documents the software and its related technologies for systems administrators and consultants. That's a fairly bleeding-edge thing to be doing, and in some ways this book reflects the authors' necessarily limited experience with real-life BizTalk implementation work. Still, they know the product well (one of them helped develop it), and the material in the book will be useful to anyone who needs to figure out how to make BizTalk work.

The approach in BizTalk is typically Wroxian in the sense that the presentation consists mainly of text, punctuated by lots of code listings and conceptual diagrams. A fictional case study threads throughout; Bob's Bolts serves as a recurring illustrative tool, providing a framework for specific instructions on what to do (in terms of interface manipulation and coding) to meet various requirements. The book emphasizes that BizTalk is a tool for facilitating commerce, and business considerations are thoroughly discussed as engineering decisions are explained. It's the sort of reasoning that real-world BizTalk consultants will have to keep in mind. --David Wall

Topics covered:

• Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 and its related technologies
• XML
• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
• Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ)
• The XLANG scheduling language
• Messaging
• Field mapping
• Functoid creation
• Application integration
• The routing and tracking of messages

New Price: $2.69 / Used Price: $0.75

For more than a decade, the Internet has allowed people to make substantial amounts of money on both a full-time and part-time basis. Today, with even more online opportunities available than ever before, you can achieve a level of financial success that most people only dream about-and in Affiliate Millions, author Anthony Borelli will show you how.

With the help of coauthor Greg Holden, Borelli will show you how to make thousands, and eventually tens of thousands, of dollars each month through the process of paid search marketing and affiliate advertising. Along the way, they'll also share the secrets to mastering this often-overlooked strategy and provide you with the tools and techniques needed to maximize your potential returns.

Since making one million dollars through paid search marketing and affiliate advertising in his first full year of operations, Anthony Borelli has never looked back. Now, he wants to help you do the same. Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, Affiliate Millions will introduce you to this profitable endeavor and show you how to make it work for you.

Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Anthony Borelli, Greg Holden
Release Date: 2007-04-13
ISBN/EAN: 0470100346 / 9780470100349

New Price: $13.92 / Used Price: $12.12

First, the guide helps you determine whether or not to use an outside developer. Frenza explains that the choice has as much to do with your management style as with your technical needs. Following chapters discuss such topics as determining goals; evaluating proposals and budgets; and designing, hosting, and marketing your site. The book also covers legal issues, project management, how to avoid disaster, how to work with multiple contractors, and how to develop the second-generation site after the first is completed.

Each chapter is authored by an expert on that particular topic and then edited to maintain a warm and often amusing style. While none of these chapters can make you an expert on any subject, they do provide the insights needed to communicate with your hired help, understand what they're doing, and assure that you get the results you want. --Elizabeth Lewis

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Author: J. P. Frenza
Release Date: 1998-11-20
ISBN/EAN: 0471312894 / 9780471312895

New Price: $11.62 / Used Price: $0.01

Seybold outlines the principles of the "customer economy" and looks at 14 companies, including Charles Schwab, Snap-on, and Hewlett-Packard, who are in the process of refocusing their businesses to meet customer needs and expectations by measuring and running their businesses on metrics such as customer satisfaction, acquisition, retention rates, and wallet share. In the customer economy, building brand means more than creating a clever logo--it requires creating an "experience that your customers love." She offers up a set of practices--what she calls a "Customer Flight Deck"--that allows companies to monitor and tune the success of their customer contacts. Customer relationships are so important, Seybold believes that a new metric of corporate reporting will emerge alongside profit and loss, return on assets, and P/E ratios--one she calls a "Customer Value Index" designed to give investors the means to measure a company's performance by looking at the present and future value of its customer base. As with her previous book Customers.com, The Customer Revolution should be required reading for managers at any company--old or new--who are assessing the real impact of the Internet on their businesses. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards

Publisher: Random House Audio
Author: Patricia Seybold
Release Date: 2001-03-20
ISBN/EAN: 037541777X / 9780375417771

New Price: $3.29 / Used Price: $2.43

New Price: $7.25 / Used Price: $4.19

The Web has developed its own set of rules and attitudes for writing hard-hitting marketing copy. Robert Bly's The Online Copywriter's Handbook is the first practical and authoritative guide to what exactly those rules are and how they differ from writing for print audiences. From novices just taking their first copywriting steps to veterans looking to add impact and results to their online efforts, it covers everything from general fundamentals of writing effective copy to specific Web copywriting tips and traps.

New Price: $10.08 / Used Price: $8.83