Challenges in Application Integration

It has become increasingly difficult to find a single software solution that can help address two or more business requirements. Companies that buy "best of breed" applications are then required to put development resources together to integrate the applications when the need arises. The Gartner Group (July 2001) estimated that up to 68% of software development resources are being spent these days on "gluing together" applications. This proves to be very expensive, and if a custom and nonstandard proprietary "gluing" technology is used, it adds to the problem, especially when the need to integrate with another system in the future arises.

The point-to-point integration approach to Application Integration is quick to implement but very difficult to maintain, extend, and is error prone. This is due to the fact that there is no central negotiator that manages interactions between applications being integrated. The complexity in point-to-point integration solutions increases exponentially as new systems are added. Company takeovers, mergers, and reorganizations are factors that add to this challenge. These proprietary systems were developed and are in existence partly because not many standards existed around Application Integration until the late '90s. Other solutions, which use the Integration Broker approach where there is a central negotiator, involve technologies such as message-oriented or Object Request Broker (ORB) middleware, but their success is limited to local networks. Modern enterprises are becoming intelligent and more aware about how standards can facilitate integration.