Enterprise Application Integration

EAI (enterprise application integration) is a business computing term for the plans, methods, and tools aimed at modernizing, consolidating, and coordinating the computer applications in an enterprise. An enterprise has existing legacy applications and databases and wants to continue to use them while adding or migrating to a new set of applications that exploit the Internet, e-commerce, extranet, and other new technologies.

EAI may involve developing a new total view of an enterprise's business and its applications, seeing how existing applications fit into the new view, and then devising ways to efficiently reuse what already exists while adding new applications and data.

Translating data and commands from the format of one application into the format of another. It is essentially data and command conversion on an ongoing basis between two or more incompatible systems. Implementing application integration has traditionally been done by tedious programming, or occasionally one package might support the interfaces of one or two other packages. However, the trend today is to use message brokers, applications servers and other specialized integration products that provide a common connecting point. Since the advent of the Web, these prepackaged "middleware" solutions have become widely used to Web enable the enterprise.

EAI encompasses methodologies such as object-oriented programming, distributed, cross-platform program communication using message brokers with Common Object Request Broker Architecture and COM+, the modification of enterprise resource planning (ERP) to fit new objectives, enterprise-wide content and data distribution using common databases and data standards implemented with the Extensible Markup Language (XML), middleware, message queuing, and other approaches.

Features of EAI

• No need to influence or change current application operation for least impact on operator adoptions.
• Minimize modification on current application.
• Relative low cost on adoption.
• Since not much impact to current application and operation, it will lower training cost.
• Less technical support requirement.
• Can efficiently combine all information come from enterprise, clients, channels, and suppliers; to serve the decision making correctly.
• Through real-time data exchange platform, strengthen integration of R&D, production, sales, and logistic.
• Can follow enterprise strategic plan to gradually deploy various system. During integration, data will be translated into internal enterprise glossary, ensuring consistence and accuracy of intelligent comprehension for all levels and departments personnel's reference.
• Enterprises within supply chain can still maintain each own system's independency and privacy. Also keep supply chain data flow sharing mechanism flexible and robust. Because of giving consideration to both robust relationships of supply chain and independency of each entity, it prevents from internal political resistance.