Description:
Getting very different computer systems from multiple vendors--whether on desktops, servers, or mainframes--to share data and processing power is one goal of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). David Linthicum's Enterprise Application Integration tours the technologies needed to master EAI. For any IS manager or system architect who needs to see what EAI offers, this title will definitely fit the bill. The text offers a wide-ranging perspective on the challenges facing EAI, as well as the strategies and technologies that can help it succeed. The author makes a compelling case for getting various "stovepipe" systems (like inventory and financial applications) to share information and processing power. (While data warehousing combines databases, EAI goes further and integrates everything--data, methods, and objects.) This text details strategies for effective EAI using a variety of middleware products (like message servers, CORBA, and COM). A standout here is the attention to mainframe topics like "packaged" applications (especially SAP R/3) that don't lend themselves to integration easily, as well as "data scraping" (which lets legacy terminal applications communicate with newer systems). There is coverage here of tools and solutions from all major vendors, including IBM, SAP, Sun, and Microsoft. Later in the book, Linthicum argues for the strengths of Java for EAI, whether for remote processing or enterprise components like EJBs. He also looks at XML for data exchange in business-to-business e-commerce. Few authors demonstrate such a wide knowledge of tools and technologies from so many vendors. This is precisely the perspective that EAI practitioners will undoubtedly need. Enterprise Application Integration delivers a thorough roadmap to the future of this emerging area of computing. It's a great place to start for any IS manager or software engineer seeking to understand the advantages of EAI for streamlining systems in an ever more connected world. --Richard Dragan Topics covered: Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) overview, types of legacy systems, EAI and e-business, data-level EAI, application interface-level EAI, method warehousing and method-level EAI, user interface-level EAI, data scraping, guide to the EAI process, middleware models, transactional middleware, XA and X/Open basics, RPCs, messaging (Microsoft MSMQ and IBM MQSeries), distributed objects, CORBA and COM, database APIs for middleware (ODBC and JDBC), Java middleware, integrating SAP R/3 and PeopleSoft packaged applications, supply chain integration and business-to-business e-commerce, XML basics, message brokers, process automation, and the future of EAI.
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