This week I went to the SOA Forum in Lisbon which was really interesting because I was able to discuss the different features of ODI, SCA, BPA, AIA, … with other partners and of course Oracle.
The AIA presentation was really great because now I got an in depth view of the amazing features and development that has been done by the Apps people.
AIA now delivers SOA integration to all the Apps people so your available to integrate with Siebel, SAP, … using Process Integration Packs, the so called PIPs. These packs include the needed services, data, error-handling, validation-logic etc. to be able to integrate your E-business Suite application to third-party clients.
What struck me the most was that a lot features should be made available to the SOA community as well, the fusion middleware stack so to say.
What are these amazing features that should be promoted to the fusion middleware stack:
- Enterprise Business Object : The EBO is being used within AIA to describe the true business objects (such as customer, product, …) in a standardized way. Through using these objects any services can retreive the payload and messages in a standardized way and integration is garantied in a loosely-coupled way.
- Enterprise Business Services : The EBS can be seen as the black dot in the middle that handles the payloads of 3-party applications and transforms your 3-party messages into standard EBO’s.
- Application Business Connectivity Service : ABC is the important part inside the PIP’s (Process Integration Packs) which will handle the interfacing with SAP, PeopleSoft, Siebel, … and respond with a standardized payload, namely the EBO to your EBS. => This connector can be seen as the Adapters you’re already familiair with within Enterprise Service Bus and BPEL.
- Composite Application Validation System and Composite Application Error Management and Resolution : enables you to test and simulate your integration services without the need for the whole architecture to be in place. No need for a Siebel-EBS dev, test, q&a and production environment, just test and simulate your processes using the AIA-validation and error packs. The error handling has been augmented so error messages are exchanged in a standardized way and the wright application and the wright user are notified in real-time. This validation logic and error handling could be a true value asset for the Fusion Middleware Market as well, which could just be a service offered by the SCA, by the composite.
- BSR = Business Service Repository, which is an extension on the already existing UDDI but is an answer to the common need for higher-level repositories for models and objects. The UDDI as we know it today only serves as a repository for services which are specific to applications. By taking this to the next level, the customer can now offer a portfolio of solutions instead of a portfolio of services. The BSR will act as a catalog of objects, messages and services that compose the integration scenarios.
AIA has tackled big integration issues already … and the fusion of apps and middleware will be the next level?
iAdvise blog 