This document discusses integration and how problems with integration have been solved over time. It argues that the most effective approach is to have a central integration hub that transforms interfaces into a common language, requiring no changes to applications. This facilitates integration and allows applications to be replaced seamlessly. Looking ahead, the ideal environment would allow all applications to connect through various protocols using a common integration platform.

1. Don’t wait to adopt.
The fittest adapt
SAP Inside Track NL
Integration core
(Resistance is futile)
Martijn Linssen M.A.
26 November 2011 – version 1.0
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt

2. Agenda
 What is Integration
 Which problems does it solve
 History of Integration
 How have problems been solved
 Future of Integration
 How can problems stay solved
 Of course, if you tackle a problem better and / or
earlier than the competition, it’s called a business
benefit …
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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3. Next topic
 What is Integration
 Which problems does it solve
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


Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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4. What is Integration?
 Fitting (not ramming) the round red peg into the
square blue hole
 … good luck with that
 However, this has been done, and proven, outside IT
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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5. Don’t wait to adopt.
The fittest adapt
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt

6. The Integration problem: your place or mine?
 We’re all hungry, but who gets to be the cook? Because
every one will have to finish his plate – like it or not
 Not just a technical issue, but also a “political” one
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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7. The Integration trade-off: I speak yours if you speak mine
 Everyone must learn foreign languages
 Very costly, very time-consuming
 Impossible to become fluent in all, let alone a few
 No common single language
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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8. The Integration compromise: let’s speak a common language
 Everyone must learn only one foreign language
 Slightly less costly, less time-consuming
 Possible to become fluent in one language
 One common single language
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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9. The Integration solution: let’s hire an interpreter
 No one must learn a foreign language
 Least costly, least time-consuming
 One common single language
 Perfect fit-for-purpose for all
 Proven “technology”: European Parliament
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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10. European Parliament
 With currently 23 languages in the EP, there are 506
(23 x 22) possible combinations
 That would be the integration trade-off in the flesh
 So, they use 3 middle languages: English, French,
German
 (It’s that hard to be fluent in only two languages)
 Currently, 750 members serve for 5 years
 That means that on average
12.5 people per month get
replaced – seamlessly
 Can your IT landscape handle
1.67% application replacements
every single month?
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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11. Next topic


 History of Integration
 How have problems been solved


Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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12. The first solution: the ultimate trade-off
For every connected
application N, one will have
to support N minus 1 non-
native interfaces. This is
killing if your landscape
grows, or has to change
(think upgrades)
 Point-to-point interfacing
 Hard-coupled, synchronous
 “Build once, modify never”
 Enterprise effort: 0. App effort: n - 1
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
23-11-2011 11

13. The second solution: use the tools, Luke
For every connected
application N, one will have
to support 0 non-native
interfaces. Transformation
is done at a central hub, by
an Integration Broker
 “Enterprise Application Integration”
 Loosely-coupled, asynchronous
 Integration as a profession
 Enterprise effort: n2. App effort: 0
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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14. The third solution: architects’ mistake
For every connected
application N, one will have
to support N non-native
interfaces. This is killing if
you replace an application
or introduce a new one, or
simply upgrade
 Enterprise Service Bus / Service Oriented Architecture
 Hard-coupled, synchronous
 Point-to-point connection to the Bus
 Enterprise effort: 0. App effort: n
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
23-11-2011 13

15. Three solutions. Did any of them solve anything?
 Point-to-point was okay but couldn’t scale. It still works
for (very) small IT departments
 EAI was a great follow-up. Even introduced canonical
model and messages, but the introduction of XML lowered
the barrier so much that Integration quickly degraded from
a profession to a pastime
 As a result, ESB got introduced and architects promoted it.
At about the same time SOA saw the light, and now most
(semi-)governments enforce very costly XML over HTTP
 And then… Google refuses to use XML, and Twitter and
Facebook deprecate it in favour of JSON
 Hey – but XML was the language of the future!
 So maybe resistance wasn’t that futile after all?
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
23-11-2011 14

16. Next topic




 Future of Integration
 How can problems stay solved
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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17. Picture yourself in an application’s place – from a business PoV
 Every single application in your
landscape is carefully hand-picked
and selected. You could compare
each of them to Olympic athletes,
specialised to perfection
 Highly single-minded, excelling at
only one thing, they are at best
average at most everything else
 But, you want to immediately replace
them with the next best one
whenever needed: there is no time-
to-market
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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18. The Big Picture
 Any (leading) system needs to collaborate with(in) any
existing IT-landscape, whether internal or external
 Any IT-landscape is diverse, and heterogeneous
- and will always be. It’s an organic life-form in
itself
 Evolution dictates that there will always be exceptions,
differentiations. If a group becomes too large, individuals
will arise out of it, forming new groups: standardisation
never lasts long. Growth means change
 Application lifecycles get shorter every day. Spending
time on development is a necessity, but on Integration?
 There is no business sense in expecting other
organisations and applications to adopt; it is far more
effective to make yourself adaptable
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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19. The real solution: facilitated canonical
For every connected
application N, one will have
to support 0 non-native
interfaces. Transformation
is done at a central hub
into one common language
 Adaptive Integrated Enterprise
 Fully de-coupled, asynchronous
 Integration as a profession
 Enterprise effort: n2. App effort: 0
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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20. The typical future-proof IT landscape
External Pull
External Push External
Social Applications
Media
Cloud
B2C
(SaaS)
B2B Mobile
Internal
Applications
SAP Big Data
Specials
 One Goal, One Vision
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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21. Roadmap for the next 5 years (generalised)
JSON
over
XML HTTP JSON
over over
HTTP FTP
EDIFACT Any
over Over
EDIINT HSPA/WCDMA
iDoc Any
over In- over
MQ memory any
 This is a plug-and-play Enterprise as the Business would
like to have. Not much to assimilate here, really
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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22. One last word to the wise
 SOAP, WSDL, REST, W3C – all of those haven’t been
mentioned. Nor need they be: they’re just narrow-minded
opinions
 If you want to restrict yourself, your company and your
customers and partners by limiting choices to either one of
those, go ahead and do so – but try making a solid
business case for that first, shall we?
 There is no one-size-fits-all, there are no Borg – well
maybe there are, but they can be ignored. Certainly not
feared
 You could debate the value of apples over oranges, but
could you really, if this is the big picture?
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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23. Image sources
 http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Locutus_of_Borg
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD4roXEY8hk
 http://castleawesome.blogspot.com/2011/07/happy-france-day-
frenchies.html
 http://ruisvis.nl/foto.html
 http://www.jointhestylehighclub.com/tag/german-stereotypes/
 http://library.aliyev-heritage.org/en/7231101.html
 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blanka_Vlasic_ISTAF_20
08.jpg
 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two_man_replace_a_mai
n_landing_gear_tire_of_a_plane.jpg
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gould_John_Duckbilled_Platypus
_1845-1863.png
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tiktaalik_roseae_life_restor.jpg
 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_Boqueria.JPG
Integration Core
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt Resistance is futile
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24. Don’t wait to adopt.
The fittest adapt
Questions?
Don’t wait to adopt. The fittest adapt
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