Chapter Five. Portal-Oriented Application Integration

In this chapter, we briefly cover the notion of portals; specifically, their use as a form of application integration. Because so much is written about portals, it does not make sense for us to repeat a lot of content here; thus, the chapter is petite.

Focus on the concept of portals, and how we can achieve integration by bringing together information from many different systems within a single user interface.

However, you should also note that portals are not Web services. Indeed, Web services are an enabling technology that may be leveraged by portals. Many are finding the concepts of portals and Web services confusing because both typically bring forward the value of remote applications using a single interface.

Portal-Oriented Application Integration (POAI) allows us to view a multitude of systems both internal enterprise systems and external enterprise systems through a single user interface or application. POAI avoids the back-end integration problem altogether by extending the user interface of each system to a common user interface (aggregated user interface) most often a Web browser (see Figure 5.1). As a result, POAI integrates all participating systems through the browser, although it does not directly integrate the applications within or between the enterprises.

Figure 5.1. Portal-Oriented Application Integration.

graphics/05fig01.jpg

Portals have become so common and so much has been written about them that we will cover just the basic concepts here. The important point to remember in the context of application integration is that portals have become the primary mechanism by which we accomplish application integration. Whether that is good, bad, or indifferent doesn't really matter. It is simply the way it is. Trading partners have extended the reach of internal enterprise systems by utilizing the familiar Web browser interface.

Why Portal-Oriented Application Integration Deserves Its Own Chapter

Although the other types of application integration focus on the real-time exchange of information or adherence to a common process model between systems and companies, Portal-Oriented Application Integration is concerned with externalizing information from a multitude of enterprise systems to a single application and interface in support of B2B. That approach goes against the notions of the other types of application integration, which are more real-time and event-driven oriented, so the inclusion in this book of POAI was somewhat of a judgment call.

Although application integration typically refers to the automated movement of information or the binding of processes between two or more applications without the assistance of an end user, it can also occur at the user interface for B2B. Indeed, most examples of B2B information exchange today are also examples of POAI, with digital exchanges leading the way (see the explanation of digital exchanges later in this chapter). Therefore, it's different, but it still belongs within the discussion of application integration.



Next Generation Application Integration(c) From Simple Information to Web Services
Next Generation Application Integration: From Simple Information to Web Services
ISBN: 0201844567
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 220

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