Excellent choice for the transition of broadening business network capapbilities! This is the 2nd book I have purchased and utilized from this author. This is a must have, and not a shelf space waster. Worth more than 40 bucks for the sales recruitment ability it created for my small company.

This book is an extensive rework of the authors' "The Adaptive Enterprise", and in my opinion supersedes that earlier book.

Like the first book this one borrows heavily from the software engineering community to employ proven techniques, such as layered design, patterns and a component-based approach to infrastructure. Where this book extends and builds upon the earlier work is the emphasis on extending the corporate infrastructure into a meta infrastructure that is characterized by B2B and supply chains. As such it lives up to the title because the goal of the extended infrastructure is to enrich the value chain - or at least support the underlying business goals.

What I like about this book is what the authors propose is not only attainable, but makes good business sense. It starts with a 22-page introduction that clearly defines what is and is not infrastructure, and the concept of an adaptivity. These are important to understanding the approach that follows. Chapter 2, Laying the Foundation, quickly gives the basics for a layered infrastructure, develops a model for associated services that are needed to make the infrastructure adaptable, and drills down into service-related issues. I am not in complete agreement with the impact that this approach has on IT organizational structures; however, I am not willing to write it off as unfeasible until I have a chance to carefully think it through. The ideas do have merit (on paper) and are better developed in the first book.

Much of the rest of the book is a rehash of "The Adaptive Enterprise", but the material is slanted towards the extended infrastructure. What is important is the emphasis on patterns and components as frameworks and building blocks. Where the first book brought infrastructure management to a new level, this book extends it in a manner that reflects the realities of connected enterprises defined by supply chain management and business partners. Please see my review of "The Adaptive Enterprise" for specifics that apply to this book, and if you're deciding between the two books, this is the one to get.

Finally a good book that shows examples of authentication via LDAP. This has been an area of great confusion. The Enterprise Security Scenarios were helpful also.

Great for student and experienced programmers. I find myself reading this book every time I need to learn a new topic on J2EE or as a reference. This is not a "For Dummies" book but at the same time it is very easy to read and understand. The sample codes go straigth to the point. It tells you things you do not find in other books but at the same time it is a summary of about 25 different books.
I highly recommend this book to any java programmer.

This book is a must read for any Executive through manager in a company that is entertaining a CRM implementation. The book covers many helpful hints and constructs that will help save time, money, and human capital. In today's business climate of collaborative solutions pitched by the major competitors (SAP, Siebel, PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards, etc.), many of their software offerings, solutions, and web sites are geared from their perspective. It's not too hard to get lost in all of their jargon. This book shows the other side--from an business point of view--to implementing a knowledge CRM business strategy. The book covers how to evaluate people for the team and progress throughout the project. The tables throughout the book are outstanding as they compare, contrast, list critical success factors, metric measurement, audit questions and methods, etc.

Technical, easy to read, it has alot of good information. Good job.

Every member of our consulting staff has a copy of this publication, even those who are not directly involved in accounting and financial matters. It is used extensively in developing export pricing, forecasting and budgeting programs. An excellent business investment for serious exporters.

a must for all e-commerce student

This is an invaluable book for business consultants, executive management, process analysts and IT professionals. Part I provides keen insights about the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between today's economic situation that has been changed dramatically by the Internet and e-commerce, and the "old" economy that is characterized by bricks and mortar and traditional distribution. The heart of this book is Part II, which provides metrics and indicators that need to be considered in today's competitive environment. In particular, the process metrics and transaction cycles that the author provides need to be carefully considered because they represent realities of competitively doing business in an e-commerce setting. This material will directly benefit process analysts and business process owners who are tasked with realigning their operations with systems that support e-commerce. Moreover, this information will also provide a solid foundation for IT analysts and architects who need to understand the business and functional requirements of systems they will be designing to support e-commerce. Another benefit that this book will provide is a method for performing an accurate cost/benefit analysis of any system or reengineering initiative that is undertaken to support business and IT alignment for e-commerce. I strongly recommend augmenting this excellent book with "Internet Commerce Metrics and Models in the New Era of Accountability" by Sri Jagannathan, which is a compendium of models and metrics that complement and validate the information in this book.

It is about time that the issues of privacy are being thoroughly addressed in this country. Dr. Robinson takes an academic analysis and applies it to the real financial world, in a manner that is most effective. I hope the banking and financial services community wakes up to the reality of privacy issues and takes appropriate action. If not, they will hurt more than just their bottom line. This book is a must read for anyone who expects to be successful in the financial sector.