For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Selecting A Comprehensive Integration Solution  (1.6 MB PPT)

by Ken Vollmer, July 7, 2009

This presentation discusses the factors that should be considered when choosing a comprehensive integration solution. Refer to the recent Forrester document entitled "Create An Enterprise Integration Strategy To Lower Your Costs" for additional information . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Create An Enterprise Integration Strategy To Lower Your Costs

A Methodology For Effectively Addressing Today's Business Integration Challenges

by Ken Vollmer, June 12, 2009

Enterprises have traditionally tackled integration challenges as an offshoot of their application development activities, but this approach's effectiveness is waning rapidly. As business challenges become more complex and involve more intricate interactions . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Case Study: How Wyeth Upgraded Its B2B Operations To Support A Global ERP Strategy

by Ken Vollmer, April 17, 2009

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals recently completed a major upgrade to its business-to-business (B2B) capability that supports a global rollout of a single-instance SAP implementation. The upgrade resulted in a more agile B2B operation, labor savings in excess of . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

2009 Update: Evaluating Integration Alternatives

Scenario-Based Guidance For Choosing Products That Provide Application, Process, And Data Integration Features

by Ken Vollmer, Rob Karel, Larry Fulton, Noel Yuhanna, January 26, 2009

Technical innovation and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity continue to drive the evolution of the integration marketplace, leading to a market with a significantly different array of features and tools than what existed just 18 months ago. In . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Integration-Centric Business Process Management Suites, Q4 2008

Software AG, IBM, And TIBCO Software Lead

by Ken Vollmer, October 6, 2008

Forrester evaluated leading integration-centric business process management suite (IC-BPMS) vendors across 109 criteria and found that Software AG, IBM, TIBCO Software, Vitria Technology, Oracle , SAP, and Cordys Software achieved leadership status based . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Many Enterprises Don't Use Their Enterprise Integration Tools For B2B

by Ken Vollmer, October 1, 2008

A recent Forrester survey indicates that just 53% of organizations use their enterprise integration tools to meet their B2B needs. The other 47% rely on B2B-specific integration tools to accomplish their objectives in this area. There are many reasons . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

User Interviews Reveal Broad Adoption Of IC-BPMS Components

Customers Use BPM And SOA Features The Most; B2B The Least

by Katie Smillie, Ken Vollmer, September 19, 2008

In just the past three years, we've seen the features available in integration-centric business process management suites (IC-BPMSes) rapidly evolve well beyond their enterprise application integration (EAI) roots. This raises the question of whether . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Using BPM To Support Innovation

Exploring The Benefits Of BPM

by Ken Vollmer, July 7, 2008

BPM solutions can provide the foundation for many types of innovation, and architects' awareness of how other firms are using these tools can provide a catalyst for joint business/IT brainstorming sessions. Enterprise architects should use this information . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Using BPM To Improve Operational Efficiency

Exploring The Benefits Of BPM

by Ken Vollmer, July 7, 2008

In most enterprises, the ongoing level of manual operations offers fertile ground for improvements in operational efficiency. Enterprise architects can provide leadership in this area by finding out what other enterprises are doing to support these types . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Use A Comprehensive Set Of Criteria When Selecting An IC-BPMS Tool

Targeting Products That Support Integration, BPM, And SOA Efforts

by Ken Vollmer, Henry Peyret, June 25, 2008

Integration-centric business process management suites (IC-BPMSes) are the most comprehensive tools available to assist enterprises with their service-oriented-architecture-based (SOA-based) business process management (BPM), business-to-business integration . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

B2B Integration Trends: B2B Modernization

Using SOA And BPM To Improve The Value Of B2B Exchanges

by Ken Vollmer, December 10, 2007

Many enterprises are still supporting their B2B requirements with basic electronic data interchange (EDI) technology that is more than 20 years old. While this technology still provides value, its ongoing use in isolation from newer alternatives will . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

B2B Integration Trends: Message Formats

Alternatives Grow, But EDI Standards Remain The Leading Option For B2B Messaging

by Ken Vollmer, July 6, 2007

Electronic data interchange (EDI) technology gained wide acceptance by providing basic electronic document exchange capability that was crucial to enterprises in many sectors. This technology was well suited to dealing with highly structured data that . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Software AG To Acquire Additional SOA And BPM Capability

Vendor Strives To Control Its Own Destiny

by Ken Vollmer, Larry Fulton, Colin Teubner, April 27, 2007

Software AG has taken a major step toward its goal of becoming a $1 billion-plus software company by announcing its intention to acquire webMethods, an established leader in the integration and business process management (BPM) markets. If this deal closes, . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

Justifying B2B Integration

by Ken Vollmer, February 9, 2007

Many organizations with a significant number of B2B interactions with customers and suppliers still do not use any form of automated, electronic document exchange technology due to the difficulty in identifying benefits that could be used to justify the . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Microsoft Announces BPM Enhancements For BizTalk Server 2006

BizTalk R2 Will Include Office Server Adapters And Native Support For EDI And RFID

by Ken Vollmer, Colin Teubner, July 5, 2006

Microsoft has been a popular choice in the integration space for some time, but BizTalk Server has lagged in its direct support for electronic data interchange (EDI) and its human-centric business process management (BPM) features as compared with most . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Axway Acquires Cyclone Commerce

Look For Increased Competition In The Integration Software Market

by Ken Vollmer, Henry Peyret, February 6, 2006

Axway's acquisition of Cyclone Commerce will create a company with comprehensive integration technology and a strong global presence. This move will ratchet up the competitive pressure, especially in the North American B2B integration arena, as Axway . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Topic Overview: Application Integration Solutions

by Ken Vollmer, Henry Peyret, December 23, 2005

Integration of enterprise applications is the new direction of application development. Rather than create new, separate programs, vendors are starting to integrate existing applications to better use, share, and allocate resources within an organization. . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Integration Suites Scorecard Summary: Microsoft

Key Findings From "The Forrester Wave™: Integration Suites, Q3 2005"

by Ken Vollmer, Henry Peyret, July 28, 2005

The big improvements provided in the third release of BizTalk Server 2004 pushed Microsoft close to the leaders in our evaluation of integration suite vendors. BizTalk represents a good choice for enterprises with basic integration needs. The drawback . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

B2B Gets Real

by Ken Vollmer, David Metcalfe, October 27, 2004

Vendors of B2B integration solutions have learned from the failure of overemphasizing the need for superior XML technology and now focus on adding value to existing data exchange infrastructure. Successful B2B integration will be a mixture of both old . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

The Emergence Of The Business Services Hub

Solutions That Provide Hosted Integration Capability For The B2B World

by Ken Vollmer, September 10, 2004

Business services hubs provide a wide variety of on-demand integration services that will be well-suited for many types of integration challenges in the B2B world, especially those that require support for multiple communications protocols and data formats.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Sterling Commerce Acquires TR2

Extends Capability To Help SMBs Meet Retail Data Sync Mandate

by Ken Vollmer, George Lawrie, April 27, 2004

Manufacturers need to comply with retailers' data synchronization mandates immediately. Larger manufacturers have the technical and financial resources to accomplish this, but smaller manufacturers require lower-cost, lower-tech solutions. The addition . . .

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Open Source B2B Integration Not Yet a Viable Alternative for Most

by Ken Vollmer, September 3, 2003

There are issues related to using open source components for integration that will limit their widespread applicability for some time to come.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

A Hybrid Communications Model Is a Good Alternative for B2B Exchanges

by Ken Vollmer, August 19, 2003

Clients with large trading partner communities should use a hybrid communications model for their B2B data exchanges since this alternative provides the required scalability at a lower cost than a VAN-based or Internet-based option.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

Inovis Bolsters Its B2B Portfolio by Acquiring IPNet Solutions

by Ken Vollmer, August 6, 2003

There will be no immediate impact for the current clients of Inovis or IPNet Solutions, but over time they will be able to pursue additional communications alternatives without having to deal with more than one vendor.

For Application Development & Program Management Professionals

IT Trends 2003, Midyear Update: B2B Data Standards

by Ken Vollmer, May 27, 2003

The majority of worldwide, interorganizational information exchanges still use the traditional X12 or EDIFACT data standards. We do expect XML-based standards to experience increased usage, but they will not gain dominance during the next five years.