Wondering if you need an integration platform? Below is a list of 6 questions you should consider before making a decision:
Do you need to integrate more than three applications?
When you are dealing with more than three applications, the number of point-to-point connections between them starts to increase exponentially.
Do you already have a list of future Web API’s you need to integrate?
To make proper decisions, in the near future, organisations will need to access more and more data.
Do you need flexibility in the type of communication protocols you will use?
Only if you require more than SOAP Web Services or JMS messaging will you be taking advantage of an integration platform.
Do you need different design patterns?
When defining your application integration architecture you may need to compose several services or you may need to deliver the same message to multiple subscribers.
Do you need to publish services/API’s for consumption by other applications?
For instance, if you work with a SOA or MicroServices architecture you will definitely appreciate the componentization given by the integration platform.
Do you need a platform that scales easily and/or is ready to live in a cloud infrastructure if necessary?
If you look at today’s modern IT infrastructure: DevOps teams, virtual machines and application containerization, you will understand the importance of being ready to scale your applications according to business needs – whenever they happen!
If you answered yes to two or more questions, you obviously need an integration platform: a modular architecture which, in founder of MuleSoft Inc Ross Masin’s words, “allows teams to quickly deliver the lightest possible integration solution for any scenario, from simple point to point integration to complicated SOA, cloud and partner ecosystem scenarios.”.
Sources
https://blogs.mulesoft.com/dev/mule-dev/to-esb-or-not-to-esb by Ross Masin
https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/esb/enterprise-application-integration-eai-and-esb#point-to-point by Ross Masin
Image credits
http://www.eneosigma.com/solutions.html
