Enterprise Application Integration (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Getting very different computer systems from multiple vendors--whether on desktops, servers, or mainframes--to share data and processing power is one goal of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). David Linthicum's Enterprise Application Integration tours the technologies needed to master EAI. For any IS manager or system architect who needs to see what EAI offers, this title will definitely fit the bill.

The text offers a wide-ranging perspective on the challenges facing EAI, as well as the strategies and technologies that can help it succeed. The author makes a compelling case for getting various "stovepipe" systems (like inventory and financial applications) to share information and processing power. (While data warehousing combines databases, EAI goes further and integrates everything--data, methods, and objects.) This text details strategies for effective EAI using a variety of middleware products (like message servers, CORBA, and COM).

A standout here is the attention to mainframe topics like "packaged" applications (especially SAP R/3) that don't lend themselves to integration easily, as well as "data scraping" (which lets legacy terminal applications communicate with newer systems). There is coverage here of tools and solutions from all major vendors, including IBM, SAP, Sun, and Microsoft. Later in the book, Linthicum argues for the strengths of Java for EAI, whether for remote processing or enterprise components like EJBs. He also looks at XML for data exchange in business-to-business e-commerce.

Few authors demonstrate such a wide knowledge of tools and technologies from so many vendors. This is precisely the perspective that EAI practitioners will undoubtedly need. Enterprise Application Integration delivers a thorough roadmap to the future of this emerging area of computing. It's a great place to start for any IS manager or software engineer seeking to understand the advantages of EAI for streamlining systems in an ever more connected world. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) overview, types of legacy systems, EAI and e-business, data-level EAI, application interface-level EAI, method warehousing and method-level EAI, user interface-level EAI, data scraping, guide to the EAI process, middleware models, transactional middleware, XA and X/Open basics, RPCs, messaging (Microsoft MSMQ and IBM MQSeries), distributed objects, CORBA and COM, database APIs for middleware (ODBC and JDBC), Java middleware, integrating SAP R/3 and PeopleSoft packaged applications, supply chain integration and business-to-business e-commerce, XML basics, message brokers, process automation, and the future of EAI.

Product Description

Organizations that are able to integrate their applications and data sources have a distinct competitive advantage: strategic utilization of company data and technology for greater efficiency and profit. But IT managers attempting integration face daunting challenges--disparate legacy systems; a hodgepodge of hardware, operating systems, and networking technology; proprietary packaged applications; and more.

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) offers a solution to this increasingly urgent business need. It encompasses technologies that enable business processes and data to speak to one another across applications, integrating many individual systems into a seamless whole.

Enterprise Application Integration provides a comprehensive examination of EAI. You will find an overview of EAI goals and approaches, a review of the technologies that support it, and a roadmap to implementing an EAI solution. You will also find an in-depth explanation of the four major types of EAI: data-level, application interface-level, method-level, and user interface-level. The book describes in detail the middleware models and technologies that support these different approaches, including:

* Application servers, including the use of Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) and ActiveX * Message-oriented middleware (MOM) and remote procedure calls (RPCs) * Distributed objects, looking at CORBA and COM * Database-oriented middleware and standards, including ODBC, JDBC, and OLE DB * Java middleware standards * Message brokers * New process automation and workflow technology

This practical guide to implementing an EAI solution leads you through all the major steps, including identifying sources of data, building the enterprise metadata model, process integration, identifying application interfaces, mapping information movement, selecting and applying the technologies, testing, and maintenance. Other key topics include integrating packaged applications such as SAP R/3 and PeopleSoft, integrating the supply chain using EAI, the role of XML, and process automation. Comprehensive, practical, and clearly written, this essential resource will help anyone involved in this important business area understand the nature of EAI, its tools and techniques, and how to apply it for a significant business advantage.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (November 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201615835
• ISBN-13: 978-0201615838
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #629,475 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars too superficial to be useful, August 20, 2000

By	David Bridgeland (Sterling, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book aims at a good target: explaining EAI to managers. To accomplish this task, the author needed full descriptions of the concepts and meaty examples to illustrate them. This book has neither.

For example, the author states several times that SAP needs a richer collection of APIs in order to connect to other application. Nowhere does he describe what is missing: what functionality is hard to access in SAP that should be easy?

Save your money.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing concrete, too high-level for a mortal to benefit., June 21, 2001

By A Customer

I read the book a year ago when it happened to be the only such book out there. My comment, simply put: it doesn't worth your time. if you don't know what EAI is about, you will still be so after reading it; if you already know a little bit, you won't know more.

My recommendation: read the book "IT Architecture and Middleware" from Chris Britton instead, which is the only non-nonsense book under this subject I have encounted so far.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great EAI Book!, April 7, 2000

By A Customer

I purchased this book to get a good EAI education and this book was spot on. The author does a good job in breaking EAI down to its component parts, and provides just enough technical detail to be helpful but not confusing. The graphics are very helpful. If you want to understand what EAI is, this is the book for you.