The integration market gels
IBM's deal for CrossWorlds points to rapid evolution in e-Business middleware space
By Roberto Michel, Editor -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 12/1/2001 12:00:00 AM
Since the introduction of eXtensible markup language (XML) in 1998, the hope of many observers was that this standard means of describing data so that it's understood by disparate systems would relieve many of the worst application integration headaches. And while some vertical industries are making headway with XML-based standards, the reality is that XML alone is not a complete cure.
Just as important as XML in alleviating integration challenges is the evolution of a class of software known as middleware. That market is showing signs of increasing maturity, as witnessed by consolidation, and the importance that experts ascribe to Web application server software. The bottom line: XML-based standards are part of the integration answer, but so are middleware solutions—whether they be licensed as part of an e-Business integration project, or embedded within enterprise application packages.
Middleware powerhouse
This gelling of the middleware market is exemplified by Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp.'s Oct. 30 announcement that it will acquire CrossWorlds, a Burlingame, Calif.-based vendor of enterprise application integration (EAI) and business process management software, for $129 million. IBM's diverse lineup of computing solutions includes its WebSphere family of e-Business infrastructure software. The acquisition, which is expected to close by mid-January 2002, adds new capabilities to this platform, says Rob Lamb, IBM's transition executive for the CrossWorlds acquisition.
"WebSphere is a foundation for mission-critical applications that are reliable, scalable, and integrated," says Lamb. "With CrossWorlds, on top of this foundation, enterprises have access to templates for how different applications work together to support business processes such as purchasing."
Lamb says these templates are based on the business process management capabilities of the CrossWorlds EAI package. Process management, he says, maps out how an enterprise resources planning (ERP) system from one vendor interacts with an ERP system from another vendor; or with a customer relationship management software package, to support a shared business process.
Additionally, says Lamb, CrossWorlds offers adapters—which are pieces of software that form an interface layer between applications—for major ERP systems and other packaged enterprise applications. "Adapters are a way of putting the output of one system into a format that can be accepted by another system in a noninvasive way, meaning that neither system gets modified," says Lamb.
The acquisition has received positive nods from analysts. Boston-based AMR Research, for instance, had this to say about the announcement in a recent alert: "The deal makes CrossWorlds' customers part of a larger and infinitely more viable concern, giving them access to a broad range of IBM infrastructure products." The alert also concludes that the deal "bolsters IBM's position in the application server market as the middleware and process [management] spaces approach it rapidly."
Infrastructure lineup
IBM's WebSphere platform is in effect a family of e-Business infrastructure software products, says Lamb. At the heart of the platform is the WebSphere Application Server, which comes in multiple editions, including an "enterprise edition."
Web application servers—sometimes called application servers or app servers—act as traffic cops in the middle tier of a distributed computing architecture, interacting with Web servers and back-end systems to deliver information and business logic to users. While Web application servers interact with hypertext transfer protocol servers (HTTP) servers, they offer more capabilities than an HTTP server (i.e., a Web server), whose main purpose is serving up Web pages.
Forrester Research, a Stamford, Conn.-based analyst firm, defines an application server software package as one that "supports thin clients with an integrated suite of distributed computing capabilities. Application servers manage client sessions, host business logic, and connect to back-end computing resources, including data, transactions and content."
Application server products include IBM's WebSphere, and WebLogic from San Jose, Calif.-based BEA Systems. Many of the leading application server products—including WebSphere—support the latest generation of Java technology, known as Java 2 Enterprise Edition, or J2EE.
Besides the core application server product, the WebSphere platform includes server software for building enterprise portals, and development tool packages such as VisualAge. Another important part of the product family is MQSeries—a piece of software that conducts asynchronous messaging between systems. "WebSphere is a platform of e-Business infrastructure solutions that do indeed go beyond simple Web server functions, or even application server functions," says Lamb.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. also is a player in the e-Business infrastructure software market, with products such as BizTalk Server, its EAI package; and pieces of its distributed computing architecture that provide application server functionality. While many of the leading application server vendors base their products on a J2EE architecture, application servers typically include a bridge mechanism that allows communication with systems built with a different component technology.
Built-in by ISVs
Application servers can be licensed as a foundation piece by information technology departments or integrators building solutions, and they are used by ERP vendors and other packaged applications vendors to support functions such as sell-side e-commerce. IBM pursues both channels, pushing WebSphere as a foundation for customized solutions, or as an app server working under the covers within packaged solutions.
"If you're an ERP vendor, the way to differentiate yourself is to develop new business functions and capabilities, not to develop your own e-Business infrastructure products," says Lamb. "It's a win/win situation when we partner with ISVs. It expands our market, and their application functionality can sit on top of our infrastructure."
Some software vendors embed their own application servers within packaged solutions. Raleigh, N.C.-based HAHT Commerce, a vendor of partner relationship management applications and what it calls "demand chain management" software, uses a Web application server architecture for its applications.
According to Rowland Archer, HAHT's chief technology officer and a company co-founder, one of HAHT's first products was an application server, but over the last several years, the company has evolved into a packaged e-Business applications vendor. The latest release of its suite—called HAHT Commerce 7.0—includes new functionality for product and brand information management on B2B e-commerce sites.
Archer says HAHT's focus is on enhancing the functional areas of demand chain management, such as offering one common management console for structured electronic catalog content and unstructured Web site content, rather than trying to compete with the likes of IBM or BEA in the app server market.
Archer says HAHT's strategy is to make the app server architecture part of a packaged solution. If a particular enterprise wants to use a different app server with a HAHT solution, that also is possible, he adds. "In the complicated world that our customers face, the more we can shield them from custom integration projects and choices on architecture, the happier they are," says Archer.
HAHT's solutions are used widely in the chemicals industry, says Archer. He points to one user—Dallas-based Celanese Chemicals—as a company using XML-based standards, along with HAHT's applications, for B2B e-commerce integration. In particular, Celanese uses the Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX) standard, which is being used by chemical manufacturers.
Archer points to Celanese's experience as indicative of the way that e-Business integration is moving. According to Archer, Celanese uses HAHT's order management functionality, underlying app server architecture, and the CIDX standards to sell its products through Elemica, a Wayne, Pa.-based Internet trade exchange. The chemicals industry exchange, in turn, uses the CIDX standards and integration software from webMethods, Fairfax, Va., to facilitate trading on the exchange. Meanwhile, Mount Olive, N.J.-based chemicals manufacturer BASF uses the CIDX standards and integration software from Extricity—now part of San Diego, Calif.-based Peregrine Systems—to integrate purchasing of Celanese products conducted via Elemica with its back-end systems.
Many pieces involved
The value of e-Business infrastructure software is in minimizing, though not eliminating, integration complexity. AMR Research recently stated that companies that have installed major pieces of an enterprise commerce management (ECM) strategy spend 11 percent less on applications maintenance, services, and headcount; and have invested in infrastructure software, hardware, and networking.
ECM is AMR's conceptual framework for how enterprise applications, legacy systems, and enabling technologies such as applications servers work together to support e-Business. Besides enabling technologies, AMR also finds that ECM organizations also have invested in ERP and supply chain management applications.
It takes a mix of technologies to ease integration. EAI and business process management software of the type that IBM is acquiring are parts of the puzzle. So is the maturity of XML-based standards such as CIDX. Application servers that support the delivery of application logic as Web services are another factor. Combining such pieces—or finding enterprise applications vendors or e-Business infrastructure software vendors that do it for you—is the best prescription for integration pain.
| FOR MORE INFO: | ||
| BEA Systems: www.beasys.com | ||
| IBM Corp.: www.ibm.com/websphere | ||
| CrossWorlds: www.crossworlds.com | ||
| HAHT Commerce: www.haht.com | ||
| Microsoft Corp.: www.microsoft.com/net | ||
| Peregrine Systems: www.peregrine.com | ||
| webMethods: www.webmethods.com | ||
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