Managing Information Access to an Enterprise Information System Using J2EE and Services Oriented Architecture

200 Managing Information Access to an EIS Using J2EE and Services Oriented Architecture

8.1 WebSphere Business Integration Adapters overview

IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapters provide for integration with an

enterprise information system (EIS). In today’s world, where enterprises have

disparate systems that need to be integrated, the WebSphere Business

Integration Adapter suite provides access to information in a heterogeneous

environment.

The adapter framework provides a common runtime and API that are used to

develop and run the adapters. The adapters are configurable at design time and

are metadata driven at runtime, allowing an organization to be responsive and

flexible by incorporating new integration processes with very little development.

The WebSphere Business Integration Adapters allow for data exchange and

business process integration through the use of integration brokers or integration

processes. The integration brokers, such as IBM WebSphere InterChange

Server and IBM WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker, provide

integration using a hub-and-spoke approach for the adapters, with collaboration

and message flows that are available for managing the data integration

scenarios. The integration processes are available through the use of Business

Process Choreographer and the Business Process Container in the WebSphere

Business Integration Server Foundation. The integration processes are created

in Business Process Choreographer which then uses the adapters to integrate

different business processes with an enterprise.

The WebSphere Business Integration Adapters have a set of features that allow

them to provide an on demand e-business with the ability to adapt, scale

processes, and rapidly deploy the solution. The adapters are:

򐂰 Configurable

The adapters are configurable at design time to connect to different EIS. The

adapters can be quickly and easily configured for different integration brokers

and quality of service.

򐂰 Metadata driven

The adapters are metadata driven, allowing many different integration

patterns without changing code or needing any development effort. The

presence of application-specific metadata allows the adapter to integrate with

different components and services within an EIS without the need to recode

or do new development. Using the metadata, the adapter can do

context-based processing by prioritizing requests and providing optional

quality of service, such as support for long-running processes in conjunction

with the EIS.