Key Elements of Integration as a Service
Posted by Mike Canniff on March 31, 2011
So far in this blog series, I’ve focused on business processes as driving integration development in a B2B scenario. Many of these issues have been addressed for years in the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) space. And most B2B scenarios involve major enterprise applications such as Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft Dynamics. Typically, these applications are installed on premise. But what happens when cloud based applications enter the picture?
This post addresses some of these points as well as the situation where the integration technology is also cloud based (Middleware as a Service or Integration as a Service).
Who does what where?
- Integration software components typically reside close to the applications needing to be connected. This is for performance and security reasons. But when integrating customer and order data between, say Oracle eBusiness and Salesforce.com, by definition one of the endpoints reside in the cloud. Firewalls must be breached and data transmitted across a public network.
- With the advent of SaaS, integration services now execute in the cloud. This may require a local “stub” or small executable program on premise to access the local data stores. The choice here depends on the amount of other on premise (EAI) connectors required and budget availability for integration technology assets.
Cloud Security
- Security probably ranks as the top issue regarding adoption of cloud based integration. Sending data across public networks has been done for years and without too much risk when encrypting data on premise and transmitting directly to a trading partner.
- But if the integration “hub” manages data in the cloud, an IT manager must evaluate this risk. In some IaaS products, the software acts as just a conduit and no data is saved in the cloud, others maintain a persistent data store in case of needing to re-transmit data. In addition, IT managers need to review audit and compliance reports from the IaaS vendors.
On-demand Integration
- One of the benefits of SaaS (in general) and IaaS is the ability to use the service “on demand”. Most on premise integration solutions require a fairly significant investment of hardware and server software. This requires upfront costs for an environment that may execute with a very low capacity utilization.
- IaaS enables an organization to use the service on an as needed basis. And when extra processing is needed, the integration service should be able to scale without additional HW investment. Obviously, a detailed cost benefit analysis needs to be done to determine which model fits your business best.
Cloud Mediation
- In a B2B scenario, trading partners may employ a variety of different techniques to connect with one another. There is potential for an IaaS vendor to provide a common “ground” or hub for the trading partners to connect. Each trading can then implement specific connectors on premise to link up with the IaaS hub. This provides potentially greater reach to a trading partner community.
IaaS provides flexibility in designing, implementing and managing integration solutions. Integration can be a huge hidden expense when implementing line of business applications. With IaaS, this expense can be mitigated somewhat due to the on-demand nature of data transfer.
In my last post of this series, I will return to abusiness process focus by highlighting specific B2B scenarios which are of highest priority. And I will highlight IaaS possibilities with each one.
Tags: B2B Integration, Cloud Computing, Cloud Security, IaaS, Integration as a Service, SaaS
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