With the NFL season in full swing and the usual suspects up to their usual tricks, a question was raised as to why some teams opt to run a “no-huddle” or “hurry-up” offense when their backs are against the wall with the clock ticking away, while other teams seem to constantly be in a “hurry-up” mode throughout the game and have a significant degree of success with it. In either case, the objective is to keep the competition off balance and have steady advances to the goal. An obvious example of an undeniably successful team that employs such methods is the reigning NFL Champion Indianapolis Colts.

Before I go further into lumping praise onto the Colts, I feel that I am obligated to state that I am not a die-hard Indy fan. The team that I root for shall remain nameless for this article as I am still traumatized by the hammer that they leveled on my team of choice on the NFL’s opening night (Hint: Rhymes with “The Aints.”).

Okay, so this observation invites the question: how did the Colts become champions by performing in a manner that, to outsiders, may appear to be rushed and distressed? One could say it’s because they have trusted, senior individuals in their skill positions implementing the plan. Another might say that by focusing on rapid incremental results, they are able to execute more efficiently. An additional point might be that the constant communication amongst the players allows them to adapt to the circumstances that are constantly changing so that they may deliver and reach their goals.

To those of you not caught up in the imagery of football, you might recognize that these are some of the same traits that characterize successful adaptations of Agile Software Development. With the goal of delivering continuous and valued improvements to our applications and supporting software, the Softlayer Development team practices many of the Principles behind the Agile Manifesto. While “moving the chains” toward the end-zone alludes to the incremental success of an NFL team’s offense, we speak more in terms of functional and valued releases towards achieving greater customer satisfaction. This is afforded to us by the skilled players on our team, constant communication, and a continued focus on producing measurable results. We are determined to keep “moving the chains” so, stay tuned to the Developer Network, Forums, and all channels Softlayer as we continue to push towards our goal.

Globalization is now, and forever will be, an ubiquitous topic in most political, economic, and social forums. The term “globalization” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets.” The latter of the traits has emerged as the strongest point of contention due to outsourcing. Markedly, Fortune Magazine recently published a story on a new “insourcing” trend. It’s a trend so new that my spellchecker doesn’t even recognize the word.

Though “free trade” and “free flow of capital” are explicitly declared in the definition of globalization, free flow of information is somehow absent. The role that the Internet has played in globalization and the development of the global economy cannot be overstated. Continued advancements in the Internet and Telecommunications have literally connected suppliers, vendors, sellers, and buyers that historically had been segmented by barriers such as geography and time zones. What this phenomenon has come to shape is the global marketplace, where products from across the world compete for the preference of an endless consumer base. With an increase in competition comes an increase in the consumer expectations for quality and performance. As a growing company with a significant international client base, SoftLayer continues to strive towards providing quality solutions and support that exceeds our customers’ expectations.

Though the Internet has helped to fuel the soaring growth of the global marketplace in the recent decade, there are still many obstacles that impede its progression. Most of the hazards have a legal connotation surrounding hot-button issues such as Intellectual Property, Copyright Infringement, and most notably in the hosting world, Abuse (bandwidth theft, computer viruses, fraud, etc.). It’s certainly enough to keep our abuse department busy as international standards and governing policies are fortified to help combat these areas of concern.

This observation merely skims the surface of globalization and the development of the global economy as there are many arguments both for and against its advancement. At the forefront or behind the scenes (depending on your vantage), you will find the Internet. It has been stated that “the Internet is the backbone of the global economy” with evidence cited in the form of web transactions going from “virtually nothing in 1994 to nearly $657 billion in 2000.”¹ Care to guess what that number is now? As Softlayer furthers its commitment to quality, our objective is to continue to strengthen the platform from which our domestic, international, and multinational customers launch into and compete in the global marketplace.

¹Charles W. L. Hill, International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace (Irwin/McGraw-Hill; Fifth Edition, 2004), p.13.

In most project management and system development circles, collocation refers to the centralization of resources, human and otherwise, for the purpose of creating greater efficiencies in a development cycle. In most cases, this involves pulling a developer from here, an analyst from there, and so on, for the life of the effort that they have been designated to participate in. In this day and age, with stakeholders spanning the globe, collocating for the sake of one project is not quite feasible. Now, imagine collocating for every project. Some might say, “That’s crazy!” Here at SoftLayer, we are just that… collocated that is. Sales, Finance, Development, and Support all share the same roof, breathe the same air, and drink the same coffee!

Outside of the obvious efficiencies gained from being in each other’s reach, such as information sharing and truly real-time communication, we reap other benefits that quickly cascade out to you, our customers. A major benefit that we have realized is the speed of going from suggestion or conception, to the delivery of a valued and usable solution. A good example of this resulted in one of the latest API method releases that I was recently involved in.

While working on a solution to parallel the monitoring feature of the Customer Portal, one of our forum moderators noticed a request from a customer that involved exposing the monitoring data to the API as well as including a few other bells and whistles. By the end of the day, the new API monitoring method, along with the customer’s requested additions, was approved, designed, developed, and tested! How crazy is that? Let me run that by you again, the customer made a request, the company responded… quickly. No web conferences, conference calls, misinterpreted emails or IMs, just a quick and correct response.

Another benefit of being collocated is visibility. Good ideas are never overlooked. While we like to think of ourselves as innovators that are constantly ahead of the curve, we are always looking for ways of serving our customers better. Whether you are engaged in a phone call or chat with one of our Sales Representatives, touching bases with Support, or volleying an idea through the SoftLayer Forum, your input is channeled directly to the hub where a dedicated and connected team is staged for top performance. Our disposition affords us the ability to nimbly address your position, resulting in gains that can reach crazy proportions!