Every enterprise can be broken down in roughly two layers in terms of business activities. The first one constitutes their primary process, which is the delivery of their specific products or services. The second layer comprises all activities that directly or indirectly support this primary process. This last category is not the core business of the enterprise. In fact, there are companies who have made these activities their core business. And so, as an enterprise, you can leave these activities to those companies. This is called sourcing.

Many of the companies that offer these supporting activities can be found on the internet – commonly referred to as “the cloud”. So now we roughly have an idea of what cloud computing is. The potential of cloud computing is enormous. Just imagine that you could take advantage of professional software like Photoshop on a pay per use basis - but we have not reached that point yet. Even today however, it is possible to run a large portion of your business in the cloud, where the options include but are not limited to:

• Collaborate in virtual offices, share documents and stage meetings;
• Use online applications (software as a service) to support Customer Relationship Management (CRM), financial administration and accounting, Human Resource Management, Facility Management etc.
• Leave processes like payroll and employee absence monitoring completely to third parties.

Making use of cloud computing can significantly cut costs. There are however two drawbacks to the concept. The first one is that if someone makes extensive use of cloud computing, it will become a nuisance to keep track of all the different user accounts. What you would want here is a supporting service for identity and access management, also referred to as a trust broker. The second drawback has to do with propagation of data. A simple example: after a newly hired employee is registered in the HRM system, this employee should receive salary during the next payroll run, the employee should also be registered for the pension plan and moreover, be provisioned for the applications that he or she will need to use. Entering the same information over and over is a tedious task. Here you would need a link and propagation mechanism powered by a Cloud Service Bus.

Domus Technica is convinced that taking of these drawbacks will make cloud computing a huge success. It is for this reason that we are investigating solutions in this area with a number of partners. If you are interested in joining this discussion, please contact us.

The opportunities in the combination of economic recess, environmental problems and security issues is what we call Win³ concepts.

IT has evolved from a supportive to an enabling role within enterprises. This means that if you do not invest in your IT, you do not invest in your business. Neglecting to invest in IT during economic recessions such as we currently face, may well leave you without the competitive edge you once had. And the economic recession is not the only thing we face. It is a well-known fact that our consumption of conventional sources of energy is polluting the planet. This may seem to be irrelevant to the field of IT, but do you know how much energy it takes to save a gigabyte of data for a year? And in the face of these difficulties our instinct tells us to avoid further risks, and we are inclined to protect what we have. And we all know security is a cost center, or is it?

Luckily there are developments that let you save costs, reduce CO2 emission and increase security at the same time. A great example of these developments is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). Gartner expects the number of virtualized PC’s to grow to 660 million by 2011, coming from 5 million in 2007. And this is not without a reason, let’s have a quick look at the benefits:

• Cost savings: Management costs are 80% of TCO. Helpdesk and installation, moves, adds and changes (IMAC) costscan be cut by up to 50%, resulting in a 25% overall TCO reduction.
• Decreased energy consumption: a thin client uses about 20% of the energy consumption of a regular desktop computer. Even taking into account the extra computing power that is needed for virtualization, this leaves a typical 75% reduction.
• Security: VDI is a big enabler for secure remote access – which indirectly ties in with energy consumption. In addition to that, it is easier to implement IT controls, thereby reducing compliance costs.

Please go here for a complete presentation on the business rationale behind VDI.

When it comes to enabling safe collaboration, Domus Technica has a mission in this world. Due to the way that information ecosystems have evolved over the years, safe collaboration is not as easy as it should be. In todays networked economy however, collaboration is happening. Large enterprises have thousands of business partners spread across the globe. Working with partners implies sharing information. One of the issues here is that information systems and their supporting infrastructure have not evolved in the same way as the economy has. In the effort to protect information assets, systems and infrastructure used to be modeled after medieval castles and sometimes still are.

So enterprises are faced with a complex dilemma. On one side there is the traditional, medieval security model which is only seemingly secure and carries a large degree of inflexibility. "Seemingly secure" lies in the fact that the main gates - to keep the analogy - are always open, namely the internet connection. On the other side there is the possibility of leaving the traditional model and thereby gaining the flexibility that the business demands. The problem there is that you cannot leave the traditional model without putting new mechanisms in place - security is necessary. Now this is what Domus Technica is all about. We help enterprises by going from a traditional security setting to a contemporary one, thereby taking away the restraints on business potential while actually creating a more secure environment.

Consilium - Every change starts with a need and the idea. If your employees, partners and customers have the need to collaborate better we can help you work out the idea on why, how, where and when to achieve it. The chance is that you would like to have some advice from acompany with Jericho knowledge or experience. Whether is it a business opportunity or an audit issue that drives you, Domus Technica can help you determine a vision of what to achieve, goals to set to get there and objectives to achieve when applying the Jericho principles to your collaboration environment. To help you, Domus Technica has quick scans and assessments to determine your organisation's ambition and readiness.

Genero - With a vision created and goals and objectives set, getting there still needs estimates, blueprints and plans. You want to know that the risks are covered in an acceptable way. The Jericho principles need to be translated to a secure architecture of your safe collaboration environment in a way that makes business sense. Domus Technica can design this environment according to your vision and assure that it will assure that goals are met and objectives achieved during realization.

Molior - Implementing safe colaboration takes ... a lot of collaboration, next to the architecture, design and plan. Several specificd disciplines will have to work together in new ways. We are talking about a revolution here. All this work takes a well-orchestrated project or programme. Domus Technica can fill the roles of programme/projectlead and/or designer/architect. If you need additional expertise, Domus Technica can bring you in contact with our implementation partners, fill alignment positions between these partners or manage their role for you.

Opera - Once a collaborative environment has been realised, you may have to adjust to this new way of working. Changes to your security operation and your security management may be necessary. Domus Technica can help you by providing advisors to your staff, or even interim managers to temporarily fill gaps that exist in your organisation. Domus Technica can also help you look ahead by assessing how effective and efficient your collaborative environment is and where improvements might make a difference.

Drs. Marco Plas CISSP CISA Marco Plas is a well known information security expert in the Netherlands. His unorthodox and direct approach have resulted in many discussions and outstanding solutions. He studied business economics and business informatics with a specialisation in applied mathematics. Ever since then, he primarily focused on information security. He is specialised in IT-continuity, security management, Architectures, Identity management and compliance.

Ir. Lex Borger CISSP CISA Lex Borger has over 20 years of experience in information and system security. He started in operating systems development where he learned system security from the inside out. He gradually broadened his security expertise. Lex acquired a significant part of his experience in the United States. In recent years, Lex has been focusing on the development of Identity & Access Management solutions and security architecture. Lex is an editor for the magazine “Informatiebeveiliging” which is published by the PvIB (“Platform voor Informatiebeveiliging”).

Bsc. Jeroen Willemsen

Recently graduated cum laude on business informatics which finished in a with an A rewarded research project about the Collaboration Oriented Architecture. He is currently envolved in several research and development projects around several topics as well as writing a book about the Collaboration Oriented Architecture Framework.

• Prudentia - carefulness, intelligence and wisdom: these form the foundation of our core values. Decisions we take as a company are carefully considered. Wisdom tells us that we must be well informed in the areas that we need to understand. We exercise care by being aware of risks and help our client manage them.
• Lustitia - Justice: we seek to conduct business fairly with realism. Our policy is to be fair in a pragmatic way.
• Temperantia - self control and moderation: these are important virtues in life. We, at Domus Technica, follow them.
• Fortitudo - courage and strength: Domus Technica operates from its own strength and is guided by its own strategy, not the delusion of the day. Especially in combination with Prudentia and Temperantia, Domus Technica is a strong, mature and solid company.
• Fides – Faith and believes: we respect everyone his personal beliefs. Domus Technica strongly believes that applying the unique features and characteristics of its employees and customers provide a greater strength.
• Spes - optimism: Domus Technica is an optimistic organisation where we believe change is possible. We work with clients realising their goals.
• Caritas – care: we feel obliged to take care of our clients, employees and the environment that we work in.

Whitepapers

• We have just received John Sherwoods' latest version of the SABSA Whitepaper. With special thanks to SABSA Ltd. you can find this MUST READ material here.

Books and presentations 

Books:

With special thanks to Capgemini & the Open Group;

• The book of Jericho 2.0
• Controlling the COA Framework
• Jericho in depth series: Authentication and Accounting
• Jericho in depth series: Authorization and Endpoint-security
• Jericho in depth series: Secure communications
• Jericho in depth series: The Road to Jericho
• Jericho in depth series: Trust Broker Framework
• Jericho in depth series: Trust Broker Services

Presentations:

• Keynotes and other recordings will be available as audiostreams. Our first addition is Marco Plas his keynote at the EMC Forum '09.

Links and partners

Proud members of:

Our partners:

Students and research projects:

Please drop us a note if your are graduating on Information technology or business informatics from any of the bachelor or master universities in the Netherlands. If we like your thesis proposal and your mentality you're more then welcome at Domus Technica. If you have what it takes, we can help you with experience and a vast network of enterprise clients. If you feel you can reach the bar, drop us an email at 'I-have-what-it-takes@domustechnica.com' 

Starters:

Domus Technica is not like other consultancy / advisory agencies. We do not believe in fancy office buildings and hanging around a coffee machine all day. Working for Domus Technica means that you have to be able to manage your own day and your own career. We'll help you, mentor you and support you. Not many young starters fit that profile, they need more guidance. If you feel that you have the right mentality. If you feel that you can work with a manager holding your hand, then you might have what it takes. We would love to find out, and you? Drop us a not at I-have-what-it-takes@domustechnica.com

Professionals:

We are currently looking for:

senior programmer with experience in OO PHP, MYSQL, JQuery and XML.

Experienced business and IT consultants.

- Infrastructure consulting

- Business strategy

- IT transformation

- IT security & Risk management

Strong analytical skills, University degree, no 9-5 mentality, experience in consultancy / advisory or Interim Management.

Send us your details at 'I-have-what-it-takes@domustechnica.com'

Unleashing secure business potential through safe collaboration.

When it comes to enabling safe collaboration, Domus Technica has a mission in this world. Due to the way that information ecosystems have evolved over the years, safe collaboration is not as easy as it should be. In todays networked economy however, collaboration is happening (read more...).

Save Costs, Be Green and Secure at the same time? Yes you can!

Read more about the opportunities that are present in the combination of economic recess, environmental problems and security issues.

The ins and outs of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is hot. It’s one of the main topics of the Open Group Conferences this year. The question is, are we talking about just another hype, or is it here to stay? Read more about the ins and outs of cloud computing.