Adeptia has released the latest version of its BPM server. The Adeptia BPM
server is another entry in the fast-growing market for Business Process
Management Tools.
People unfamiliar with Business Process Management servers can think of them
as replacing the typical maintenance-heavy point-to-point systems
integrations that let data flow through corporate machinery. The business
process engine executes a well-defined business process and shepherds
information through those complex multistep processes. I've heard BPM
characterized as Enterprise Application Integration on steroids, but as
Adeptia's product will show, it's really much more.
Adeptia's BPM Server lets users gradually build up processes by defining
simple discrete activities. Activities are then combined into tasks that are
executed by the BPM Server. The BPM server can be controlled from its
browser-en... (more)
There's a phenomenon I've witnessed again and again in my years building
systems. I call it "Guerilla IT." Listen to my description and see if you've
witnessed it inside your organization.
You are an IT professional serving your constituency. They are satisfied with
your support of their business, but there are a few projects that are lower
priority and small enough to fly under your radar. They implement a little
"solution" themselves to help get their work done. They are proud of the
quick, simple, and cost-effective solution and innocently wonder, "Why can't
they get things d... (more)
Much has been written recently about the business-to-business aspects of Web
services, but what about the region between the Web service and the desktop?
Above All Software lays claim to this "last mile" by providing a platform for
delivering composite applications.
Gartner defines a composite application as "a software assembly that
implements one business function (one step) and where the component parts are
heterogeneous in their information architecture." I prefer to define a
composite application as one that does not manage any data of its own, but
brings together data from... (more)
The moniker "Shared Data Services" has a sexy ring to it, and in a market
where service-oriented architecture is the topic du jour, you may be tempted
to roll your eyes... but don't. Pantero targets an important segment where
business spends $80 billion annually on integration and another $19 billion
on manual reconciliation.
Shared Data Services?
What are shared data services? A quick tour through the organic growth of Web
services at a firm would be a good illustration.
Chances are you have dipped your toe into Web services when your company
needed to expose data to the outside... (more)
Business process execution Language support or BPEL is at the top of every
enterprise SOA punch list. It's an XML-based language designed to support
long-running complex business transactions in the form of orchestrated Web
Service interactions. Like most XML formats, you wouldn't want to construct
and debug a process of any complexity by hand and an "engine" is required to
recognize and execute BPEL.
This is where the tool vendors come in and Active Endpoints, Inc. has a
design tool and engine product combination that we'll cover in this review.
ActiveBPEL Designer
The designer ... (more)