Characteristics of Integration Solutions and Products.

The key attributes of integration platforms and backbones gleaned and gained from integration projects experience are connectivity, semantic mediation, Data mediation, integrity, security, governance etc

» Connectivity refers to the ability of the integration engine to engage with both the source and target systems using available native interfaces. This means leveraging the interface that each provides, which could vary from standards-based interfaces, such as Web services, to older and proprietary interfaces. Systems that are getting connected are very much responsible for the externalization of the correct information and the internalization of information once processed by the integration engine.

» Semantic Mediation refers to the ability to account for the differences between application semantics between two or more systems. Semantics means how information gets understood, interpreted and represented within information systems. When two different and distributed systems are linked, the differences between their own yet distinct semantics have to be covered.

» Data Mediation converts data from a source data format into destination data format. Coupled with semantic mediation, data mediation or data transformation is the process of converting data from one native format on the source system, to another data format for the target system.

» Data Migration is the process of transferring data between storage types, formats, or systems. Data migration means that the data in the old system is mapped to the new systems, typically leveraging data extraction and data loading technologies.

» Data Security means the ability to insure that information extracted from the source systems has to securely be placed into target systems. The integration method must leverage the native security systems of the source and target systems, mediate the differences, and provide the ability to transport the information safely between the connected systems.

» Data Integrity means data is complete and consistent. Thus, integrity has to be guaranteed when data is getting mapped and maintained during integration operations, such as data synchronization between on-premise and SaaS-based systems.

» Governance refers to the processes and technologies that surround a system or systems, which control how those systems are accessed and leveraged. Within the integration perspective, governance is about managing changes to core information resources, including data semantics, structure, and interfaces.

These are the prominent qualities carefully and critically analyzed for when deciding the cloud / SaaS integration providers.

Source of Information : Wiley - Cloud Computing Principles and Paradigms

Characteristics of Integration Solutions and Products.