Integration Servers Defined

Integration servers can broker information between one or more target entities (networks, middleware, applications, and/or systems) with significantly greater ease than traditional methods, or point-to-point middleware. What's more, they can accomplish this regardless of how the information is represented or accessed. Integration servers can be positioned between any number of source or target systems that exist inside or outside of an enterprise, and broker the information exchange between them. They can account for differences in application semantics and database schemas, and process information by transforming the structure or format of the information so it makes sense to the target application that receives it.

What's more, integration servers provide a mechanism to integrate multiple business processes that, to this point, have remained more isolated than open regardless of whether the business processes are new, old, legacy, centralized, or distributed. Integration servers bridge many different platforms and application development solutions. They can connect to each application and route information between them by using any number of interface mechanisms. More to the point, they are capable of a good deal more than simply routing information. They can provide enhancements such as hosting business functions that build on the existing business functions of the entities they connect.