Enterprise Application Integration (EAI).

We accomplished wide range of EAI projects for our clients that consists of wide range of following industry standard best practices.

Point-to-point

Point-to-point integration is an early form of EAI that creates connections between two endpoints. It extracts data from one application and moves it to another. If necessary, you can transform the data during the transfer process to ensure both endpoints can use it.

Point-to-point connections are not scalable because of the need to directly connect every application pair that needs to share data. For example, with 10 applications, developers have to maintain 45 unique connections between each application. However, they work well with smaller systems. 

Hub-and-spoke integration

A hub-and-spoke model of integration acts as a central hub that distributes data to many connected applications. All applications can send information to the hub, which then transforms, reinterprets, and sends data to other applications. 

As a communal system, a hub-and-spoke integration provides a high degree of visibility and management efficiency. It eliminates the need for point-to-point dependencies, significantly reducing the number of connections required. For example, with 10 applications, only 10 connections (spokes) would be needed. However, while this model reduces complexity, it introduces a single point of failure. If the hub encounters issues, it could disrupt the functioning of all integrated applications.

Service-oriented architecture

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) focuses on making software components as reusable as possible. It decomposes business processes into individual services with standard interfaces that abstract underlying functionality and allow software components to interact. The main components in SOA architecture are:

• Services.

• Service registry where services are listed.

• Enterprise service bus (ESB) which facilitates communication between services. 

The ESB acts as a middleware framework that handles routing, transformation, and various communication tasks. It provides capabilities to connect, mediate, and control interactions between different services. All SOA implementations don't use ESB, but an ESB can be incredibly beneficial in complex systems where many services need to interact in a flexible, scalable, and maintainable manner.

SOA offers greater flexibility than the hub and spoke model. You can couple, uncouple, and recouple services as business requirements change. However, it requires a disciplined approach to service definition and governance. 

Microservices architecture

Microservices is another flexible architecture that extends SOA by reducing service dependencies even further. In a typical SOA, an individual service might encompass multiple business functionalities or domains that serve broad purposes for different consumers. Services also share databases and other resources, making them less flexible and harder to scale individually.

In contrast, microservices break down the application into the smallest autonomous components. Each microservice has its own database and state so it can be developed, deployed, scaled, and maintained independently. Microservices also communicate directly with others using APIs and standard protocols, eliminating the need for service bus integration.

Microservices are critical for designing cloud-native solutions that maximize the benefits of moving enterprise systems to the cloud. However, they require additional tools and skills to implement—capabilities that all organizations may not have.

Electronic Data Integration/Interchange (EDI).

In an electronic data interchange (EDI), business documents are shared computer-to-computer in a standard format. This replaces paper documents and automates the process. This often occurs with things like billing or logistics, where the manual process of creating these documents is replaced with a system-managed approach.

Data Integration (DI).

This brings together all system data into a single, unified view. From this view, analytics can be measured to produce actionable intelligence. Though the methods for a data integration vary from project to project, it generally involves bringing data sources under one roof, residing on a single server.

APIs.

This is the easiest way to connect systems as it provides a direct line between the two applications. APIs are the most commonly-used approach and provide data transmission using a standard format.

Middleware.

This is a “hidden” layer of software that brings systems and applications under a single tent. It provides common services and capabilities to applications beyond what the operating system offers.

Webhooks.

Webhooks are sometimes called HTTP callbacks. They’re real-time messages sent between systems when prompted by a specific event.

EDI.

As discussed above, EDIs replace paper documents with a standardized electronic format. These are typically done through a value-added network through a third-party network or directly through the Internet.