Integration Appliances – the Alternative to Custom Code

The ubiquitous need for application integration coupled with the inherent weaknesses of custom code solutions creates a huge opportunity. Addressing this opportunity requires a fresh approach to application integration – an approach that is easy-to-use without requiring specialized skills, fast-to-implement to meet tight deadlines and adapt to changes, and one that can scale easily as a business grows. This approach comes in the form of an appliance that is purpose-built for integration. And, the fact that these integration appliances can work alongside existing custom code integrations gives companies the flexibility of phasing-in the new technology.

Integration appliances bring more efficiency to solving the most common integrations. The majority of integration problems can be solved in just four steps and integration appliances are designed to do only these four steps – connectivity, transformation, workflow and management. By focusing on these common integration problems, appliances deliver benefits that are appealing to companies that don’t have a large IT staff and yet need quick integrations.

1. Simplicity for Users

Appliances are self-contained and provide everything needed to complete integrations in one place. By eliminating the need to install, deploy or manage any software at the distributed endpoints, this approach reduces complexity for the user. Even connectivity to the endpoints is achieved via native application protocols – without any need to install or use adapters.

The simplicity of the appliance approach enables companies to deploy integrations quickly and respond efficiently to changes in their business environment.

2. Frees Up Specialists

Appliances are designed to be easily configurable and can be deployed quickly – in days versus weeks or months with custom code solutions. Since there is no code to be written and no software to deploy, the skill sets required for implementing and maintaining an appliance solution are not as specialized as those needed for custom software development efforts.

With appliances, there is no need to use programming skills since business analysts can configure and implement integrations. This allows scarce programmers with specialized skills to use their time on more strategic projects.