Conclusion
Enterprise Application Integration is the complex process of fitting hardware, software, and business process together to enable new business solutions. Its characteristics include the following:
- Emphasis shift from systems to context
- Seamless interfaces between components
- Data sharing
- Systems working together in synergy
EAI represents the next logical step in the evolution of technology that started with the automation of isolated business processes and has grown to affect how business across an entire company is done. It has far-reaching consequences for the extended life of systems belonging to a company's legacy. At the same time, EAI and the technologies it produces help define future possibilities for the growth of new systems.
Since 1984, Laura Brown has helped businesses and technical managers deliver systems solutions, and has worked as management consultant and senior technical advisor to Fortune 500 companies. She is President of System Innovations, a consulting firm specializing in enterprise application integration, data warehousing, and Internet design.
Laura is the author of Integration Models: Templates for Business Integration(2000, Sams Publishing).
Laura can be reached via email at lbrown@systeminnovations.net, or on the web at www.systeminnovations.net/.