Conclusion

Enterprise application integration is on the verge of significant growth as organizations move to standards such as XML and web services. EAI should be an integral part of your portal strategy, whether you are ready to integrate now or planning for the long term . Walls between proprietary applications are coming down, and enterprise architectures are shifting to a web-friendly model. Therefore, tools are making EAI far less painful and expensive than ever before. It remains a challenging endeavor and will require professional programmers and analysts for the foreseeable future, but the productivity of these individuals will continue to rise.

Your portal can be the starting point for EAI by providing a modern application architecture based on standards such as XML. It can go further than merely integrating the user interfaces of applications by integrating processes and bringing customers and suppliers to a common place where transactions may be conducted . The portal provides the opportunity to start from a new paradigm and technology base rather than merely paving the cowpaths of legacy line-of-business applications.