A couple of weeks ago, MuleSoft opened its beta program for a new Integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) dubbed Mule iON. iON is a multi-tenant ESB hosted in the Cloud which enables secure connection between the enterprise and cloud based solutions (SaaS, Services or Social Platforms).
The SaaS and PaaS are re-creating the silos of IT and as more and more data is moving to Cloud based solutions, so does the need to synchronize and replicate data. Ross Masson, CTO of MuleSoft, notes:
- [Using] SOAP or REST maks the connectivity problem easier to manage but also restricts us in how we can architecture a solution (i.e. stateless, no widely accepted way of doing transactions, etc)
- SaaS solutions are more fined grained than before
- The acquisition of a new SaaS solution [or Service invocation] is dangerously easy compared to the traditional way of procuring enterprise software
- There is a large number of problems to solve around security, identity management, repudiation, visibility, control...
Ross adds:
the SOA-ification of web applications means that the way new applications are being built is through composition of services, augmenting existing functionality within our own apps and leveraging the treasure trove of infrastructure and data services available on the web.
There has been several attempts to solve Cloud based integration problems, Boomi which was recently purchased by Dell, WSO2 ESB-as-a-Service, RunMyProcess, or the Azure Service Bus to name a few. How do you see integration in cloud evolving over the next few years? How will core data organizations and solutions evolve to meet the challenges created by the Cloud?