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Enterprise application integration facilitates the flow of information and
straps transactions among disparate and complex applications and business
processes within and among the organizations.
With the move towards market globalization, there have been mergers and
acquisitions at a phenomenal pace. It has become imperative for organizations
to share data and business logic with its business partners within the supply
chain. This is where Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) comes into
picture.
Now as Information technology is aiming at providing companies with a
competitive edge, several factors can slow down its effectiveness. The move
from the traditional brick and mortar operations to sophisticated processes and
the repercussions of mergers and acquisitions, a need has arisen to respond to
the ever-changing market demands. Application Integration has become essential
for a company's success in today’s economy.
A standard EAI system provides with a broad range of services ranging from
security management, protocol management, data mapping, and other related
functions. These services define the functionality and flow of data in the
application. EAI solutions can benefit an organization by providing end-to-end
visibility and control of business operations. This control improves
interactions with partners and customers; increases responsiveness to business
changes; enables new market opportunities; and makes captured knowledge more
widely available.
Companies need integration that can be set up, taken down, and changed quickly,
and that can work with a variety of partners, systems, and rapidly changing
technologies. In case of Application-Integration, the focus lies largely on
integrating one production application with the other, for EAI middleware is
implemented in the form of connectors that handle data transformation and
business logic with outside systems like the ERP Systems (SAP, PeopleSoft),
Database Systems (DB2, MS SQL Server, Oracle), Message Queuing Systems
(Mqseries, MSMQ) etc.
Integrating disparate systems is a very complex task. Application integration
in the past was a rare achievement and was restricted to simple exchange of
data. EAI requires a whole new approach to integration. The old approach
involved building custom point-to-point integration, one application at a time.
This cannot meet the demands of the Internet economy wherein companies need to
integrate their business processes quickly with dozens, even hundreds, of other
companies. Today, with the introduction of component based models like EJB,
DCOM, CORBA etc, it has become relatively easier to provide software
applications as congregations of stand-alone and independent business
components that communicate with the business processes through a standard set
of APIs.
Many of the companies today are embracing the component-based applications.
This is either by developing a new application or by componentizing their
existing applications. The approach to componentize involves splitting up the
colossal applications into an assembly of numerous independent business
components. DCOM and CORBA/IIOP are the two main protocols for object
communication across networks, including the Internet. Both are platform
independent, programming models that support compatibility between applications
in a complex system. DCOM is used for Windows-based applications, and CORBA is
found on many platforms. Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a
communication protocol that defines a new way for processes on different
systems to communicate, the heart of which is the Extensible Markup Language
(XML). XML has emerged as the leading business-to-business integration and
enterprise application candidate. XML is fast becoming the unifier among
integrated systems.
Why the need to integrate applications?
When we look at it, we come up with several reasons why it is important to
integrate applications:
To respond to the ever-increasing mergers and acquisitions.
Integrate with suppliers and customers hence implementing Supply Chain
Management.
To scale with the e-business needs.
To reduce redundancy.
To integrate with high-end ERP Systems.
To increase competency by reducing the time taken in transmitting information.
Requisites of an EAI system
A typical EAI system requires:
A Data-interchange format.
Server Architecture.
Programmatic Methods.
Message Queuing Systems.
Transaction Monitors.
As an example, An EAI System would include XML as a data-interchange
format, Enterprise Java Beans as server architecture, CORBA and DCOM as
programmatic methods for processes to call each other, message-queuing systems
to let systems communicate asynchronously, and transaction monitors to ensure
that operations complete properly.
The Various Phases of Enterprise Application Integration Process
There are several phases of an Enterprise Application Integration process that
includes:
Solution outline phase.
Architecture phase.
Design Phase.
Implementation Phase.
The end result of this process is a consolidated, consistent and coherent
view of the vital information that's accessible from multiple points across the
enterprise.
The benefits of Enterprise Application Integration
EAI provides advantages through uniting disparate applications; reducing
redundant data entry; merging diverse data sets; and reducing transaction
costs.
EAI proves beneficial to businesses for varied number of reasons:
Increased Efficiency: The ability to automate business processes across the
enterprise and across existing boundaries.
Value of information: Redundant databases are aligned eliminating duplicate
data.
Lower costs: The EAI strategy is to create one interface per application. This
lowers the cost of upgrades or modifications/additions to applications.
Increased productivity.
Improved Customer Service.
The ability to extend applications to more users.
The integration of applications is compelled by the Internet and the need
to connect system-to-system with customers, suppliers, collaborators, and
partners of all sorts within the supply chain.
EAI is not just another buzzword, but it is a linchpin that lets e-business
work. It is a technology in response to rapidly changing business need!
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