A holistic view of data

Data integration, data abstraction and data services are core needs when considering SOA (service-orientated architecture). Legacy databases alone do not provide adequate ways to represent information in the context of SOA. However, the use of a data abstraction layer allows architects to define virtual schemas using better logical structures that offer a more effective fit for SOA implementations.

The bundling of data integration as an open source solution further increases the value of this approach. Open source SOA solutions provide two major advantages: first they are typically less expensive than proprietary tools and technology. Second, they are often simpler and easier to understand and use. XAware’s open source model is a key differentiator in the data integration marketplace.

The Need For Integration
Over the decades, companies have accumulated information processing systems to manage different parts of the business as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, this evolution of information technology infrastructure has most often occurred without an overarching design, resulting in many stand-alone systems that perform a single function well, but fail to interact with each other. As companies accelerate electronic business initiatives, communication with customers, business partners, and between internal divisions demands well-integrated systems with fluid exchange of information.

Traditional vendors of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) software have evolved from message-based transaction processing into business process management platforms. While these platforms have done a good job managing transactions with their process-centric approach, they have not addressed the key issue facing most enterprises, that of complex data stored in a myriad of locations.

Integration using XAware technology
The XAware integration software tools provide an elegant solution to many of the most complex data problems in the enterprise. By defining a data abstraction layer, and exposing information objects as rich business services, XAware provides what industry analyst ZapThink calls a service-oriented integration (SOI) toolset. SOI leads to reduced complexity in accessing information, re-usability, cost savings and rapid return on investment. XAware reduces or eliminates many of the issues caused by complex data environments, including: up to 70 percent of application development resources are consumed by integration efforts to access the right information for an application.

Business information is stored in many systems, applications and databases. Data related to one business object, such as a customer, is contained in many locations while the dispersed nature of the data forces applications to connect to many different systems to build a single view of business information .

Efficiency suffers from lack of access to information critical to running the business. Changes in required data sets are difficult to manage due to ‘black box’ transformations buried in code or old applications, hiding the flow of data in the enterprise.

Open source data integration software
XAware’s ‘configure not code’ approach, as well as the use of a data abstraction layer within the context of a SOA, provides a better approach to data access from a SOA than going direct to the physical databases. Its multi-purpose capabilities enable the design of complex, multi-source, multi-destination templates with complex transformations to support on-demand, standards-based data integration. When using this technology, users can create a virtual data services layer and a rich XML metadata abstraction layer that is able to increase reuse and reduce infrastructure cost.

XAware also offers a suite of development and deployment options on a variety of platforms that gives the user the ability to tailor the solution to its environment. XAware is capable of handling a variety of uses, from basic integration to more complex situations, including parallel processing, transformation, failover, schema validation, and it also supports disparate data sources.

XAware’s features include:
• Data integration and data abstraction allows the SOA developer to place schema and data volitility into a single domain, thus promoting agility.
• The Eclipse-based XAware Designer: Visual drag-and-drop, wizard-based IDE that speeds the development of XAware-powered applications.
• Built on the Spring Framework: A high-performance, scalable, dynamic data integration and data Service execution engine that leverages the standard Java framework.
• XML to Schema: Differentiated approach to data integration, allowing endusers to create the XML schemas and then bind physical data schemas to them.

Value proposition

It provides better architectural agility through data abstraction as compared to building services on top of existing legacy databases.
• The open source model allows end-user organizations to leverage the technology without a great deal of investment.
• Has the ability to take multiple data sources and turn them into a single unified schema.
• Places schema volatility into a single domain promotes agility within the SOA implementation.

As Chief Scientist and founder of XAware, Kirstan Vandersluis has been instrumental in developing and patenting the company’s product suite. Vandersluis has extensive experience in software development spanning multiple industries, including DoD, semi-conductor and telecommunications, where he has engineered the deployment of both corporate and commercial software products. Previously, Vandersluis was a software development manager and senior architect at MCI. Vandersluis holds a BSc in Computer Science from Michigan and an MSc in Computer Science from University of Colorado.