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.

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.

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.

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.