Resource File

.NET Architecture Center and .NET Designers

Contents

.NET Architecture Center
.NET Designers Column

.NET Architecture Center

Microsoft has recently launched the .NET Architecture Center, a site devoted to business, software, and infrastructure architects who want to understand the Microsoft approach to enterprise software. It provides an overall view of architecture concepts as well as detailed discussions of architectural designs and patterns. The center is a collaborative effort of Microsoft product teams, MSDN, TechNet, and an architectural review board.

The .NET Architecture Center site is divided into sections: Application Architecture, Technology Architecture, Architecture Community, Patterns and Practices, and Related Info. The Application section currently provides information on key concepts for service-based application architecture and application patterns that define best practices in a specific application. The Technology section's initial documents focus on setting up a data center. In the Community section, users will find links to related Webcasts and presentations, such as XML Web Services Security and Design Choices and Performance in Distributed .NET Applications. The Webcasts are interactive; you can ask questions during the real-time sessions. You can also view previously recorded Webcasts on demand. The Community section provides links to related organizations and businesses, such as the Zachman Institute for Framework Advancement. Patterns and Practices offers links to other related Microsoft sites. Future topics will include a conceptual overview of technology architecture, enterprise application integration (covering the use of BizTalk Server), and distributed application security.

.NET Designers Column

The .NET Designers column by Steve Kirk is devoted to application design using Microsoft .NET with a focus on distributed enterprise applications. The column will introduce new content on a monthly basis, concentrating on aspects of .NET-based application design. Content will come from guest contributors from Microsoft and from the larger .NET Framework community.

The first installments covered the announcement of the .NET Architecture Center and an article on factoring an application into logical layers. Future topics will cover design issues in service-based applications, the influence of technology on application design, and the relationship between data architecture and application design.