Enterprise application integration critical success factor: Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is a serious consideration for many Enterprises. From P.O. exchanges to ERP, the complexity and criticality of EAI solutions is quite extensive and variable. This paper presents the EAI landscape.—Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Senior Enterprise-Class Solutions Architect, TATA Consultancy Services.

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Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is a serious consideration for many Enterprises. The reach of EAI is quite vast – from partner purchase order exchange to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and supply chain integration, the complexity and criticality of the solutions vary. Specialized EAI products have been around for more then a decade and they have shown tremendous growth and adaptability to changing needs. Nevertheless, integration, so far, has been only a tactical solution – a solution to integrate various applications and channels of communication which, in most of the cases, had been built in silos. This type of integration is needed for quick wins and faster time to market, for an ever changing business ecosystem. Unfortunately, while integration efforts are on in an enterprise, newer systems are built with the assumption (and hope) that they can be integrated using the “my enterprise standard EAI product.

This cycle of moving-and-catching, if based on a clear vision of integration strategy at the enterprise level, creates a well orchestrated IT ecosystem; if not, it creates more integration points for the future: an antithesis of EAI. But to have a well orchestration of systems, integration has to take a wider meaning: Integration of a system across business processes, channels of contact and communications, and data. In a truly complex enterprise this type of integration is non-trivial, and cannot be solved just by adopting a product or technology but can be only addressed by an enterprise-wide strategy and architecture standard. This paper presents the integration landscape over the last decade and captures the major changes that have occurred so far and also discusses how the changes in technology and service orientation transforms this landscape. A brief History of EAI The necessity of the application integration, of course, is fuelled by the Internet economy, where real time data and application synchronization are of paramount importance. The EAI as is know today has crossed various stages of evolution.

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