Event
Summary
Information Builders (IBI), has announced support for IBM's
(NYSE: IBM) MQSeries Integrator Version 2 via IBI's "Enterprise
Connector for MQSeries Integrator" product. The combination of the two
products provides application support on over 35 different platforms and
over 120 relational, non-relational, transaction, and application sources.
"Information
Builders has worked with IBM to provide rapid integration solutions for
more than 12 years," said John Senor, vice president, Information Builders'
Middleware Technology Group. "As IBM's capabilities have grown to include
MQSeries, MQSeries Everyplace, MQSeries Adapter
Offering, MQSeries Integrator, MQSeries Workflow,
and WebSphere Application Server, our capabilities
to complement IBM solutions by providing 'out-of-the-box' integration
capabilities have also grown substantially. We're proud to provide back-end
integration support working with IBM."
"Companies
want to develop rapid, reliable, scalable solutions, but the integration
issues they face are much greater than they have ever been, largely due
to legacy and closed systems," said Rob Lamb, director, Business Integration,
IBM. "MQSeries Integrator is developed to work on open platforms and runs
with a wide range of ERP and legacy systems. We are pleased to see Information
Builders' support for the MQSI open node architecture."
In
addition, IBI has announced support for IBM's WebSphere
Application Server, Advanced Edition 3.5. According to Mr.
Senor, Enterprise Connector will provide WebSphere
with "'out of the box' rapid integration capabilities for data transactions
and applications that require writing custom code".
"The
accessibility to crucial information is essential to any company's e-business
success," said Paraic Sweeney, vice president of marketing, WebSphere
software platform, IBM. "WebSphere Application Server working with Information
Builders' solution will help business effectively obtain this critical
data for e-business success."
Market
Impact
The
addition of MQSI Version 2.0 support to the Enterprise Connector product
will have a similar effect on the market to that caused by the WebSphere
integration. The sheer breadth of data access interfaces will make this
product difficult to compete with (when the customer has a heterogeneous
environment). According to IBI, the integrated product simplifies the
process of developing message flows, and can reduce the time, effort,
and cost associated with creating message flows by as much as 40-80 percent.
If these numbers can be backed up, other vendors will have to scramble
even harder to integrate with MQSIV2 and make their products developer
friendly (especially in the area of speed of development), or they will
not survive in the highly competitive EAI marketplace.
In
the area of WebSphere integration, Information Builders' product offering
already supports access to more than 120 relational, non-relational, and
application sources. The latter category includes popular relational database
management systems, legacy DBMSs, and file systems, as well as CICS and
IMS/TM transaction systems, MQSeries and MQSeries Integrator-based messaging
applications, SAP R/3, PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards application environments,
and custom-developed applications written in COBOL, RPG, C, C++ or other
callable languages. The combination of IBM WebSphere and IBI will give
the WebSphere offering an even stronger position in the market, especially
in the area of integrating legacy systems with e-business initiatives.
No other vendor has the depth or breadth of platform and data source support
that this product does.
User
Recommendations
Customers evaluating business initiatives that will have back-end data
stored in legacy formats, flat files, or other non-relational formats
should strongly consider the IBI Enterprise Data Access (EDA) product,
with the MQSIV2 connector. Additionally, IBM/IBI's WebSphere Application
Server, Advanced Edition 3.5 offering should be considered for legacy
integration with e-business initiatives. In both cases, enhanced platform
support and the ability to use SQL to query non-relational datasources
will enhance programmer productivity and increase return on investment
in a shorter timeframe.