Adaptive Information Improving Business Through Semantic Interoperability, Grid Computing, and Enterprise Integration

Chapter 2. Information Infrastructure Issues and Problems

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Traditional middleware solutions are built on outdated technology.

• Today's businesses are wising up to the importance of the information contained in the messages—as opposed to the technology surrounding the messages.

• Plumbing, or integration, is necessary but not sufficient. Without it, enterprise software communication would not be possible. With it alone, communication is inefficient, expensive, and lacking focus on what matters most—information.

• The real challenge for enterprises today is to build an infrastructure that enables information, in all formats, to be utilized freely at the right time and place.

• Dynamic, adaptive middleware architectures will rely on semantic interoperability.

Defining holistic middleware architecture may not be the first order of business for most CEOs, but cutting costs and improving business relationships surely are. So, although the question of semantic interoperability may be technical geek speak for most, software architects and CIOs should take heed of this emerging vision. It could make you a corporate hero.

In this chapter we will examine the roots of application integration solutions and discover the reasons why they so frequently become money pits. Key technical components of typical EAI solution sets will be discussed, highlighting specific areas that lead to high maintenance costs and problematic configuration management. It will be made clear why enterprise information, ...