Remaking France Telecom's Information System: an account
of an outstanding project
In this exceptional book, Jean-Luc Lucas uncovers for us
all aspects of France Telecom's ambitious programme
@rchimedes. Initiated in 1998 and today approaching its
final phase, this programme involved rethinking the
technical architecture of France Telecom's Information
System (hundreds of applications and 60,000 workstations)
in order to rebuild it using 100% Internet
technologies.
Strategic choices, project management and technical
solutions
In the first part, destined for decision makers,
consultants and IS Directors, the author explains how the
major strategic decisions were taken and how the programme
was organized and managed. The second part, which is of
interest to project managers, architects and system
developers also, plunges into the detail of the
architecture and the technical solutions adopted,
explaining the reasons for the choices and describing the
migration path from the existing system to the new
architecture.
A spotlight on the major themes of enterprise-wide
IT
This unprecedented feedback of experience offers the
reader an overall vision of the major IT topics concerning
the enterprise IS: multi-tier architectures, Web browser as
the unique user interface, Java application servers, UML
modelling, intranet and Internet portals, secure access
control, enterprise middleware bus, EAI, access to legacy
applications, end-to-end IP networks administration and
supervision, and the integration of software products such
as GRC and CTI.
A tale rarely so frank
With an approach that is unusually frank in such a book,
the author does not hesitate to analyze past failures and
to denounce certain technological dead-ends, to defend his
own convictions regarding Internet standards and to uncover
the reasons that drove the key members of the @rchimedes
programme to choose certain off-the-shelf products rather
than others. A precious testimony for all decision makers
and actors involved in the enterprise Information
System.