Data is king in today's information-driven economy, which is why
organizations are willing to spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of
dollars on data integration frameworks and applications. These organizations
understand two critical truths: they have yet to capitalize on the potential
business value stored in relational databases, EDI, flat files, and XML-based
systems; and they must seamlessly connect with customers, suppliers, and
business units - all of which may store and process data in different formats
- to remain competitive.
Open standards-based technologies like XML promise to unify enterprise data
and enable advanced Web Services and SOA. But while XML may be
standards-based, most existing enterprise data isn't, nor is it easily
extensible. Complicating matters further is the fact that many large
enterprises rely on EDI systems to exchange business... (more)