EMod: platform independent modelling, description and enactment of parameterisable EAI patterns

Abstract

As enterprises merge, split up, or grow, existing legacy systems from different vendors implemented in different programming languages and running in different environments as well as roll-your-own applications have to be integrated. This fact is denoted as the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) problem and is one of the major challenges IT departments are facing today. As a result of the need for operational flexibility and reuse, Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) gain more and more importance as they allow for a flexible and standardised way to describe, reuse and integrate services in heterogeneous application landscapes. Enterprise Application Integration Patterns (EAI Patterns) are a means to describe integration problems using a set of patterns. The patterns therefore present nuggets of advice on how to solve complex recurring integration problems. In this paper we introduce a platform independent approach (EMod) to model, describe and enact EAI patterns in service-oriented architectures. We describe how EMod can be used to build stand-alone EAI solutions that integrate different applications in a Software as a Service (SaaS) environment. Furthermore we show how EMod can be used as a part of an application to integrate services into composite service-oriented applications. This is done by integrating EMod into the Service Component Architecture (SCA).