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Application integration: addressing the issues: one-stop shopping is not a reality.

Article Excerpt
Application integration brings a combination of problems. Each organization and trading community has its own set of integration issues that must be addressed. Because of this, it is next to impossible to find a single technological solution set and/or standard that can be applied universally. Therefore, each application integration solution will generally require different approaches. At this time, and in the foreseeable future, one-stop shopping is simply not an application integration reality.

Although approaches to application integration vary considerably, it is possible to create stone general categories. These approaches include:

* Information-oriented

* Process integration-oriented

* Service-oriented

* Portal-oriented

In this column I review the differences and the enabling XML-based standards that are applicable.

Information-Oriented Approach

Technologists who promote the information-oriented approach to application integration argue that integration should occur between the databases (or proprietary APIs that produce information, such as BAPI)--that is, databases or information-producing APIs should be viewed as the primary points of integration. Within information-oriented application integration, there are many approaches. Information-oriented solutions can be grouped into three categories: data...