Select and Implement an ESB Solution

Point-to-point integrations create a tangle of webs and interfaces that are difficult to manage and can be easily broken.
As the number of integration connections continue to grow for an organization, traditional point-to-point integrations will become increasingly expensive to create and maintain.
With the increasing focus on SOA, and the growing connectivity and messaging requirements expressed by the business, IT departments require an integration solution that is scalable and highly flexible.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Integration middleware, namely, Enterprise Service Buses (ESBs), provide a means to streamline application integration by serving as a central connection point.
The ESB market is a mature space, with differentiation focused around architecture and deployment models, rather than out-of-the-box functionality.
ESBs sit deep within an organization’s application environment, making the right vendor selection and a well-designed implementation critical to the performance of the entire environment.
Help make the case for an ESB by including it as part of a larger, high profile IT or business initiative.

Impact and Result

Before proceeding with an ESB implementation, evaluate your integration environment and identify the different integration patterns and requirements that you will have for your implemented solution.
Select your ESB considering the environment you will have tomorrow, not just the requirements you have today. More and more vendors are moving to the cloud, and are including robust iPaaS solutions that provide strong data and application integration functionality.

Select and Implement an ESB Solution Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should select and implement an ESB solution, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Select and Implement an ESB Solution – Executive Brief

1. Launch the ESB project and collect requirements

Create a plan for selecting an ESB solution considering the benefits the technology can provide for the business and the needs of the integration environment.

2. Select an ESB solution

Evaluate Info-Tech’s ESB Vendor Landscape and use the information as a guide for evaluating a vendor shortlist and selecting a best-fit ESB solution.

3. Plan the ESB implementation

Create a plan for implementing the selected ESB tool.

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Table of Contents

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Guided Implementation 1: Launch the ESB selection project

Call 1: Identify your fit for ESB technology and create a procurement project plan.
Call 2: Conduct an inventory assessment of your integration environment.
Call 3: Create an architectural framework for future ESB.

Guided Implementation 2: Select an ESB solution

Call 1: Review the ESB Vendor Landscape.
Call 2: Discuss evaluation results.
Call 3: Conduct a contract review

Guided Implementation 3: Plan the ESB implementation

Call 1: Create an implementation plan.
Call 2: Identify the oversight and maintenance plan for your ESB solution.

Authors

Rachel D'Hollander

Randy Hearn

Contributors

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Gamma Dynacare
Suva
One other anonymous contributor

Search Code: 73480
Last Revised: June 19, 2015

TAGS:

ESB, Enterprise Service Bus, integration middleware, service bus, messaging middleware, SOA, Dell, Fiorano, IBM, Microsoft, Mulesoft, Oracle, Red Hat, Software AG, Talend, Tibco, WSO2