Computer-readable medium and data structure for communicating technical architecture standards to vendors

• US 7,200,601 B1
• Filed: 07/31/2002
• Issued: 04/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bradley, Michael J, Rehkopf, Thomas W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): DANG, THANH HA T
• Application Number:
  US10/210,024
• Time in Patent Office: 1,707 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 707/103, 707/100, 707/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A computer-readable medium and a data structure for communicating information regarding the current and future components of a technical architecture standard to vendors are provided. The computer-readable medium includes a data structure having a data field containing data identifying a particular component of an information technology architecture for an organization, a data field containing data identifying a current standard for the component, and a data field containing data identifying a future standard for the component. The data structure includes one or more architectural component tags indicative of one component of an information technology architecture for an organization, one or more current standard tags corresponding to each architecture component tag indicative of a current standard for the component of the information technology architecture identified by the architecture component tag, and one or more future direction tags corresponding to each architecture component tag indicative of a future standard for the component of the information technology architecture identified by the architecture component tag.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure for enabling a computer to communicate information technology architecture for an organization, the data structure comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to:

identify via data contained in a first data field of the data structure, a component of an information technology architecture for an organization;

identify via data contained in a second data field of the data structure, a current standard for the component of the information technology architecture identified via the data contained in the first data field;

identify via data contained in a third data field of the data structure, a technology trend for the component of technology architecture identified via the data contained in the first data field, the data structure further comprising computer-readable information enabling the computer to identify via data contained in a fourth data field of the data structure, a future standard to be utilized for the component of the information technology architecture after the current standard is retired; and

the data structure is;

sent from an architecture lifecycle management server to a server operated by one or more vendor organizations; and

used by the vendor organizations to identify technologies compatible with the information technology architecture.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data structure is expressed using an extensible markup language.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the first data field comprises one or more of an application technical environment, application development components, network-based services, content management services, data management and movement, security, network and systems management, enterprise storage, server platform, network, and telephony.

4. An architecture lifecycle management server configured to communicate with the server operated by one or more vendor organizations by executing the computer-executable instructions of the data structure of claim 1.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the technology trend identified by the data contained in the third field of the data structure is further determined based on feedback from the vendor organizations.

6. An extensible markup language data structure for use in enabling a computer to communicate vendor directives to one or more vendor organizations, the extensible markup language data structure comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to:

identify via one or more architectural component tags indicative of one component of an information technology architecture for an organization, the one component, wherein the architectural component tags comprise at least one from set of;

of an application technical environment, application development components, network-based services, content management services, data management and movement, security, network and systems management enterprise storage, server platform, network and telephony;

identify via one or more current standard tags corresponding to each architecture component tag and indicative of a current standard for the one component of the information technology architecture, the current standard;

identify via one or more future direction tags corresponding to each architecture component tag and indicative of a future standard for the component of the information technology architecture, the future standard to be utilized after the current standard is retired; and

identify via one or more trend tags corresponding to each architecture component tag, and indicative of technology trends for the one component of the information technology architecture; and

the data structure is;

sent from an architecture lifecycle management server to a server operated by the one or more vendor organizations; and

used by the vendor organizations to identify technologies compatible with the information technology architecture.

7. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon the extensible markup language data structure of claim 6.

8. An architecture lifecycle management server configured to communicate the vendor directives to one or more vendor organizations employing the extensible markup language data structure of claim 6.

9. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure for enabling a computer to communicate information technology architecture for an organization, the data structure comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to:

identify via data contained in a first data field of the data structure, a component of an information technology architecture for an organization, the first data field comprising one or more of an application technical environment, application development components, network-based services, content management services, data management and movement, security, network and systems management, enterprise storage server platform, network, and telephony;

identify via data contained in a second data field of the data structure, a current standard for the component of the information technology architecture identified via data contained in the first data field;

identify via data contained in a third data field of the data structure, a technology trend for the component of technology architecture identified via the data contained in the first data field; and

identify via data contained in a fourth data field of the data structure, a future standard to be utilized after the current standard is retired for the component of the information technology architecture identified via data contained in the first data field; and

the data structure is;

sent from an architecture lifecycle management server to a server operated by the one or more vendor organizations; and

used by the vendor organizations to identify technologies compatible with the information technology architecture.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the data structure is expressed using an extensible markup language.