Next Generation Application Integration: From Simple Information to Web Services

Chapter Four. Service-Oriented Application Integration

This chapter describes the next dimension in application integration: the joining of applications together through the exchange of simple information and the linking of application services.

This approach is nothing new; we have been doing this for years through custom coding, or through standards such as distributed objects. However, with the advent of Web services we now have another tool in the shed that will get us to SOAI...hopefully, with more success.

You should focus on the concepts more than the mechanisms while reading this chapter. We'll talk more about the mechanisms later in the book. Also, keep in mind that this approach to application integration is more invasive, thus more ...