Getting all those finicky applications you bought in the '90s to play nice with your shiny new Web-enabled software is tough enough,
but throw in custom code written by long-
departed COBOL connoisseurs, and the dream
of getting your applications to work as a team in support of business goals can seem hopelessly out of reach.
Enter EAI. Enterprise application integration apps work like a switch to which you hardwire all your disparate systems, thus ensuring that each application can interface with all others. Implementing simple business processes that once took days, even weeks, can be accomplished via a GUI. Magic.
But like most magic, EAI requires hard work behind the scenes. We tested software from BEA Systems, IBM Corp., Sybase, Tibco Software and Vitria Technology, and found that all five products did a good job centralizing integration, and all let us define business processes, with varying degrees of ease.
The downside: Byzantine configuration and setup, and prices that may induce sticker shock. But training is available, and cost will be less of a factor if you go with our Editor's Choice: Sybase's Integration Orchestrator, priced at 25 percent less than the nearest competitor. IO also features an intuitive interface and the best Web services implementation, built on technology that has been proven over years of use.
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