IBM makes a game out of SOA 22 May, 2007 By Robert Dutt

PromoPipeline Exclusive Channel Promotions Find Out How You Can Make Money Today! ENROLL FREE! >> Factory Direct Should Not be Cheaper William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Cloud Ecosystem II: A Candid Conversation with Oracle Beth Vanni - Amazon Consulting Cloud Ecosystem: A Candid Conversation with Rackspace Hosting Beth Vanni - Amazon Consulting Channel Manager Compensation William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Financial Expertise William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels

It's not exactly "blow up the aliens with a bazooka," but the company's new Innov8 game is perhaps the world's first business process management (BPM) simulator, and aims to help students learn to combine the needs of the business with the needs of the IT organization during a trip through an organization that is, at least at first, haunted by its non-SOA structure.

Sandy Carter, vice president of SOA and WebSphere strategy and channels at IBM, said the program was designed to help meet the need for individuals with "T-shaped" skills -- people with broad business skills and deep technical understanding. "It's a new type of skill," she said.

The game is a 3D action/mystery, where the user has to visualize how going to an SOA will affect different parts of the business, explore "what if" scenarios, and eliminate bottlenecks in the structure.

The program is being rolled out with the help of Duke University and the University of North Carolina, where it will remain in prototype mode for the time being. Carter said it would be available to the public in September.

Carter, who heads up IBM's channel efforts around SOA, said that Innov8 will be available to the company's channel partners as a way to get their customers ready for the "cultural and skillset changes" that come along with a move to SOA. In addition to the Innov8 game, Big Blue has embraced virtual worlds with its push for SOA education. All of the keynotes from Impact were streamed live into Second Life, where the company has also opened a 24/7 "SOA university" with all the typical e-learning tools held under the banner of the popular virtual world. In her keynote presentation, Carter said more than 4,600 people -- more than the 4,000 people in attendance in Orlando -- were taking in presentation on Second Life.

The company also announced a new level of SOA certification, with an Advanced SOA certification joining the existing entry-level and intermediate courses. The new program, slated for general availability in Q3, will stress the need to combine and blend IT and business skills when planning and executing an SOA implementation.