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Spatial world chants the EAI mantra
Composition of EAI Package
Normally EAI packages include the following components:
- An Integration Broker
- Tools to build Connectors /Adapters into Applications
- Adapters
- Monitoring, Administration and Security facilities
Also middleware should contain the following advanced features:
- Required Type of Messaging – Asynchronous and Synchronous
- Routing / Workflow Engine to support complex Business Processes
- Pre-built transformation functions
- Application Deployment and Monitoring environment
- Monitoring Tools for Transport services and message warehouse
- Integrated Development environment with metadata repository and support to Configuration Management.
Additionally they may extend the features to support E-commerce, Portal Services and Web-Services.
All the EAI components put together provide architecture to integrate disparate applications and enable real-time business processes. EAI addresses application-to-application integration, but it doesn't support the Process definition controlling those applications. Business Process management (BPM) comes into aspect in this territory. By adding BPM to EAI architecture we obtain Total Business Integration.
EAI Implementation Guide
While implementing EAI solution, a number of factors come into consideration.
- Plan, delineate and map the IT requirement to Business Strategy
- Evaluate Business process and data models
- Measure the ROI for the EAI investment
- Develop an EAI architecture based on integration characteristics.
- Establish definite canons, regulation procedures, ownership and accountability.
- Compare different EAI packages in the market based on their maturity, case studies and suitability to the designed model.
- Evaluate technologies- scalability, adaptability, extensibility, standards, redundancy and infrastructure.
- Check for the development Tools to build seamless custom interfaces.
- Check for administration tools and processes to monitor the system
- Buy the suitable EAI solution
- Pilot the EAI solution in a real environment
Spatial integration needs largely to peep into other factors like:
- Acquiring the appropriate GIS infrastructure required for Enterprise Integration
- The conversion/migration strategy required for construction of the geospatial and attribute data.
- Where data sets will reside? Build overall architecture placing GIS in an effective position.
Are you choosing the right EAI solution?
Before choosing the EAI solution, give a thought to the following:
- If the integration includes enterprise resource planning (ERP) software packages or call-center packages, make sure you have the required expertise.
- If the integration includes Custom-Applications, you may require bridging them to the message backbone.
- The data has to be published across the business horizons.
- If the infrastructure required by the EAI package is not provided, you may have to put up some infrastructure.
- The last but most important factor is –Piloting and Testing. How much time will be required to test the package? Evaluate the efforts for this.
EAI network is a one-time implementation. The significant point to note is that it may be extended easily but replacement will cost fairly large.
Points to be noted for Spatial Integration
Integration of a spatial system poses special considerations and risks, due to:
- The complexity of spatial data structures
- Integrating a design environment (long transaction) with other systems
- Visual or graphic information content of maps
When integrating spatial systems since these systems will typically be involved in composite application integration – the most demanding form of integration requires the most advanced tools.
Some gunpoint measures:
- One important decision is in choosing Messaging Paradigm. If companies are looking at distributing information between applications over the Intranet or the Internet, then it is worth considering the middleware products for messaging based EAI. This solution should support multiple clients and address heterogeneous operating systems, databases and applications. IBM Message Queue, Java Message Service (JMS), SeeBeyond™, TIBCO™ and Vitria are moving headway in this approach. But the messaging systems fall short of some basic scalability requirements. In such case investing in more powerful hardware to gain performance will be a logical move.
- One more constituent of enterprise messaging architecture to be considered is the choice of network protocol. For applications across Internet/enterprises, TCP/IP messaging system and for inside Enterprise/LAN IP multicasting will be a proper choice.
- XML can be used to describe structured data and is often appropriate for the content of messages transmitted by a messaging system or for data passed between CORBA objects. Indeed, XML compliant EAI extends the integration capabilities to provide browser-based access for end-users and enable the integration of the e-commerce site.
- Another aspect is the Routing process. Each of the major EAI products offers a mechanism for flexibly routing messages. Most EAIs provide request / reply, publish / subscribe routing, as well as both content-based and logical address routing. Content-based routing introduces a conditional element, which can (in principle) be based on anything that can be incorporated as part of the content of the message. Pre-defined routing can be extremely efficient wherever it is applicable.
- Transformation Engines are required when altering message content between source and destination. Conventions to be followed for transformation Engines:
- Event-driven content merge and split
- XML support
- Support to multiple records from one source but separated in time
- Support to multiple sources
Spatial technology and systems throw special challenges - demanding, complex applications - that make the choice of EAI solution even more difficult although emerging standards for the web and for application integration will make a difference.
Where are we heading?
So far what was discussed previously has focused on Enterprise Application Integration, the wing that will actually glide EAI is Internet. Internet allows the same basic approach to be used for e-business. In terms of "uniting the enterprise," Internet technologies combined with advances in portable devices and wireless communications will have an enormous effect during the next two to five years. It will be possible for mobile users to access sophisticated applications and corporate databases wherever they are via lightweight hand-held units and wireless communications. The convergence of all these technologies will revolutionize the way we use geospatial technology (and many other things) over the next few years.
Conclusion
Every year companies spend huge amounts to build and maintain individual integration solutions. EAI will definitely cut down the cost factor and enhances the information velocity. But at the same time careful evaluation and selection of the right EAI solution is equally significant. The flexibility to incorporate powerful best of breed application solutions enterprise wide is one of the most potent ways for an organization to get rapid ROI. Spatial technologies are an excellent example of this. The growth of EAI depends mostly on the Enterprise heads decisions, long-run investment, Architecture refinement and globalization of Standards.
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