One of the most exciting developments is the emergence of Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), a Web services technology that allows companies to expose applications as services and quickly create service-oriented architectures. ESB can't match the performance of traditional EAI in some areas, such as business process integration or data transformation. Even so, the technology is ideally suited for smaller companies, or those looking for a quick return on investment. "ESB is ideal for companies looking at tactical integration projects," Hailstone says. "If you want to bolt together two systems for the minimum possible cost, this allows you to do that without any of the complexity associated with EAI."
Dramatically reduce costs
Some industry experts believe that the emergence of Web services and JCA standards will force down the cost of EAI itself. Increasingly, EAI vendors are incorporating Web services into products, along with support for JCA. While this doesn't reduce the cost of EAI tools, it can slash the cost of implementing them.
That's vital where companies have no option but to use full-scale EAI. When WHSmith decided to roll out new warehouse management and forecasting tools in 2000, it was one application too far. "Like most companies, throughout the 90s we'd bought lots of stuff and bolted it all together," says Ian Winskill, manager of the retailer's business systems division. "You name it, we had it -- NT, AS/400, Unix, Oracle, NCR, SQL. The last thing we wanted was to buy more stuff and bolt it onto the melee."
The company decided to build a new layer that would sit in between the applications and the back-office mainframe. An application integration server wouldn't have offered the necessary scalability and couldn't match the functionality of EAI, Winskill believes. "IBM at that time didn't have the process management we were looking for, and they showed us lots of different products that all worked together to do the job," he says. "I'm sure they would have worked together perfectly well, but the idea of it did make me nervous."
WHSmith opted for an EAI suite from SeeBeyond. Unlike traditional EAI suites, this included JCA adapters, which speeded up the integration process and means that new applications can be added to the integration layer extremely quickly. "We've tested the two systems running side by side, and the new system is 73 percent faster than the old method," says Winskill.
So, how do IT directors know which integration approach is best for them? The first step is to ask whether you simply want a quick-hit, tactical project or whether you are creating a long-term integration strategy. "In general, EAI is better for strategic projects but many IT directors don't have that option at the moment," says Hailstone. "In many cases, you're simply looking to achieve the best functionality for the lowest possible price."
