Simple app integrator

New e-business development projects within a company inevitably incorporate data from applications such as ERP (enterprise resource planning) or CRM (customer relationship management) with applications running on different platforms and belonging to a range of technological domains. The difficulty and cost of integrating all of these disparate applications can quickly skyrocket. And to add to the complexity of projects, e-business development teams may not be able to reproduce or modify the logic of some applications.

Verastream 8.0, an EAI (enterprise application integration) suite from WRQ Inc., provides the ability to integrate data from legacy host or packaged applications with existing applications at a minimal cost and level of complexity. Key improvements in Version 8.0 include unrestricted read/write access to popular software from Baan Co. NV, SAP AG, and Siebel Systems Inc., making possible XML-and Java-friendly Web apps and the SNMP standard for managing applications and monitoring their performance.

We like Verastream because it offers flexible and efficient software connectors to access just about any database, ERP, or mainframe application, without costly re-programming of the existing systems. Its easy-to-use and intuitive GUIs reduce development time and cost. Moreover, IT managers can purchase discrete components of Verastream and add more as their integration project evolves, thereby minimizing the initial investment. All of these features contributed to a Deploy score for Verastream.

Competitive EAI solutions include Active Enterprise from TIBCO Software Inc. or BusinessWare from Vitria Technology Inc. Both products offer better management of business rules and company workflows and ready-to-use modules for portals and intercompany integrations than Verastream. However, Verastream offers a single workbench to integrate data, applications, and business processes, and it integrates applications inside a company better than its competitors.

Reconquering the mainframe space

Verastream 8.0 offers its own GUI based development platform, the Technology Independent Modeler (TIM), and a Host Integrator server to manage integrated apps and components. The development GUI runs only on Windows, either NT 4.0 or 2000, but IT managers can establish the Integration Broker on AS/400, major Unix platforms, or Windows. An S/390 version is also in development.

Additional building blocks are available for purchase, depending on a company's requirements. They include a Host Integrator 4.0, which translates existing terminal-based transactions into re-usable components, and connectors to Baan, SAP, and Siebel applications, plus myriads of native adapters for any database system.

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