Open Source Enterprise Service Bus & Comparison

Open Source Enterprise Service Bus in Java

Top Open Source ESB Projects

Comparison from Tijs Rademakers - Author of Open Source ESBs in Action

Mule --> Custom architecture, XML based configuration, easy for Java developers

ServiceMix 3 --> JBI based, focus on XML messages

ServiceMix 4 --> OSGi based, integrated with Camel configuration, also provides support for JBI

JBoss ESB --> Custom architecture, runs on JBoss application server, fits great with JBoss products

Synapse --> Focus on WS-*, Rest, build on Axis 2, great if you need things like WS-Security etc

OpenESB --> JBI and OSGi based, runs on Glassfish, nice tool support with Netbeans

Camel --> XML and Java DSL configuration, no container, support for EIPs and lots of transports

Spring Integration --> XML and Java annotation configuration, no container, support for EIPs

PetTALS --> JBI based, nice admin console, French based

Tuscany --> SCA based, provides support for WS-*, focus on service development not integration

THE FORRESTER ESB EVALuATIOn (Q2 2011)

The evaluation uncovered a market in which many familiar faces continue to thrive (see Figure 5):

· Software AG, Tibco, Oracle, Progress Software, and IBM are Leaders for ESB as well as CIS. These five vendors achieved Leader status in the 2009 ESB Forrester Wave evaluation and in the 2010 CIS Forrester Wave evaluation, thus garnering the top position in the integration software
provider market.

· FuseSource and WSO2 also scored as Leaders. FuseSource and WSO2 also scored highly in most of the evaluated areas; each of these vendors’ products represents a solid ESB solution that would be a good choice for meeting many enterprise integration and service-oriented architecture requirements.

· MuleSoft, IBM’s WESB, and Red Hat products scored as Strong Performers. Though MuleSoft, IBM’s WebSphere ESB (WESB), and Red Hat products were missing some features, they still made the Strong Performer category. These products lack the same level of ESB support as the Leaders, but in most cases the differences were small. Consequently, each of these products may also be a very good fit in many enterprises, depending on the specifics of the situation.

This evaluation of the enterprise service bus market is intended to be a starting point only. We
encourage readers to view detailed product evaluations and adapt the criteria weightings to fit their individual needs through the Forrester Wave Excel-based vendor comparison tool.

ESB Comparision from OpenLogic

Enterprise Service Bus Capabilities Comparison

Want to know more, read this book "Open-Source ESBs in Action"

How to Tackle the SaaS Integration Problem

This article is written by Loraine Lawson from itbusinessedge

"Integration Issues May Hinder SaaS Adoption," from CIOUpdate, reminds us of the integration problems created by buying "best of breed" applications in the 1980s and '90s. No doubt, you remember it well. And yet the same thing is now happening as companies opt for more software-as-a-service applications.

Just like with those proprietary best-of-breed solutions, this is code that you can't customize. How can you integrate SaaS offerings? Here's an abbreviated version of the options outlined in the article:

• 
  Use middleware, sold either as an appliance (Cast Iron Systems) or as an application integration platform, (e.g., Tibco).
• 
  Use Web services, which brings challenges with security, data models, business processes and workflow, according to the article.
• 
  Buy pre-integrated suites from one vendor. Microsoft, SAP and Salesforce.com are among those migrating to this approach, which relies on a "core" to provide integration for products from the vendor and its partners. For example, SAP's core is Netweaver platform. Oracle's is Fusion. Salesforce.com hopes to leverage AppExchange platform into its core. The article doesn't specify Microsoft's core, but my guess would be Sharepoint server. If you're thinking "Surely companies won't fall for that kind of lock-in," remember: This is what most companies opted to do in the '90s instead of integrating in-house applications.
• 
  Buy an EAI solution from a third-party.

Of course, SOA doesn't solve the underlying data definitions problem, as the piece points out. This is where Master Data Management comes into play.

The full article fleshes out the problem and the possible solutions, as well as issuing advice about what IT departments can do now to encourage vendor integration, (yeah, right), and what to do if that doesn't work out.

Here are three related resources to help you learn more:

• 
  SaaS integration is a problem that will impact all sizes of IT organizations. Small and mid-sized companies treated SaaS applications as silos from the start, according to integration and SOA consultant and columnist David Linthicum. See what he recommends these businesses do now to remedy the SaaS integration problem by reading "SMBs Need to Tackle SaaS Integration," from Intelligent Enterprise.
• 
  Informatica offers an integration solution for organizations using Salesforce.com. Its On Demand Data Replicator allows businesses to easily replicate SaaS-related data to their databases. Learn more by reading, "Service Integrates SaaS Data On Demand," on the blog THINK IT Services.
• 
  Find out what's driving Master Data Management adoption and learn how the two breeds of MDM solutions may begin to merge functionalities in our Executive Briefing, "What's Next for Master Data Management?"

Case Study & More:

Appirio’s eat-your-own-dogfood SaaS integration

Three Startups To Solve SaaS Integration Problems

SaaS integration without the lock-in

Building a Business on Virtual Infrastructure, Using Google and salesforce.com

Videos

There are list of videos available from YouTube regarding Saas integration, check out some of them at your spare time.

SOA, Web Services & BPEL - Tech Forum in Singapore

Recently, i gave a talk and BPEL demo to singapore partners for Oracle BPEL & SOA suites. Introducing them idea of SOA, BPEL and Web Services and how to make use of oracle technology in their applications.

SOA stands for service oriented architecture, it is a architecture model.

Talk about architecture, we need to understand basic building block of each application and system.

Like we build a real house, we use mortar and brick. Every application / system was built with business logic and process. Business process weaves all business logics into one application to achieve business goals. Process and logic weave seamlessly and hard coded into a monolithic application. Like we cook soup, we put all ingredients into water and hard for us to separate each out in the end, by which it reduce reusability of standard process and logics.

In traditional application, when people wanna change the process or integrated with other application / system, especially it is a heterogeneous platform or technology integration, that will be very hard and time-consuming.

For SOA applications, applications also build with process and so-called business logic (have been wrapped into self-contained services). Process and services are loosely coupled, people can easily add or remove services from process, not like traditional applications (process & logic fuse into one). Other than that, people can easily design & program the business process with a advanced IDE. Overall experience for process design and implementation will be a drag-and-drop exercise.

SOA process should be standard, easily extensible and composable. When build an SOA application, we start from building a portfolio of services , follow with well-defined business process to orchestrate services to achieve business goal. This is where BPEL comes in for business process implementation and web service for business service implementation.

Many people equate web services with Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA), but web services are just one element of SOA - they're about service invocation. SOA's scope is broader than just invocation. It's a complete software component architectural model, a way to organize, manage, deploy, discover, and expose software components, and to consume these over the Internet. From the software life-cycle perspective, in addition to the typical software development phases of design, development, and deployment, SOA defines web services-specific phases that include service publishing, discovery, binding and consumption, and management.

Note, SOA != web service+bpel