There is probably no area of information technology that affects humanity more than the World Wide Web. The first wave of innovation in this area came to an abrupt end at the time of the “dot.com crash�? of 2000.

Historically significant technological innovation often proceeds, however, in cycles. The publication of Tim O’Reilly’s seminal article, “What is Web 2.0�? in September of 2005, however, elegantly documented the fact that the second and even more significant cycle of web innovation is well under way. During this phase the Internet becomes the central platform for all forms of information processing enabling totally new modes of human interaction.

Isolated, poorly integrated systems involving lengthy development cycles, software releases with often unpredictable consequences, unreliable data backup procedures and dysfunctional user interfaces are all rapidly becoming vestiges of a bygone era. The new management doctrine is Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) whereby business processes are supported by loosely coupled services that offer easily usable functionality that can be effectively combined as needed to cope with a constantly changing environment. Web 2.0 creates a platform for SOA with portals offering links to an extensible set of functions such as wikis, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, remote database processing, RSS feeds and much more. This architecture not only does everything that antiquated information systems used to do but also enables forms of creative interaction such Internet communities, crowd-sourcing, and decentralized, networked management concepts that traditional systems were not able to address.

The emphasis in this new generation of systems shifts to such issues as complex content management and the utilization of 3D virtual reality to optimize the user experience. PersonaTEC with its long Internet experience and global network of experts and partners is able to help its clients with the difficult but rewarding transition to the new world of service oriented technologies.