Peregrine Starts Adapter Business Unit

Peregrine Systems Inc. announced this morning a new line of business focused solely on integration. The infrastructure management software developer already has IBM and BEA Systems Inc. lined up to buy the new integration adapters that its new unit will produce.

Named the Integration Adapter Factory, Peregrines newest division will work on developing and supporting industry standard adapters for leading application server and enterprise application software vendors.

That puts IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., and BEA, of San Jose, Calif., on the top of Peregrines list of coveted customers. Both of those companies will manufacture and resell Peregrines adapters.

As it works to make basic software commodities out of application server and enterprise application adapters – programs that have largely been built in-house or by EAI (enterprise application integration) vendors – Peregrine is banking on J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) to remain the dominant standard for building application infrastructure. The San Diego company will base all its adapters on a common JCA (J2EE Connector Architecture), according to officials.

Support for additional standards like XML and Web Services standards will be incorporated into Peregrines Connector Architecture.

Peregrine already has a host of integration adapters available that provide integration with a range of systems, including IBMs MQSeries middleware and enterprise applications from SAP AG, PeopleSoft Inc., Oracle Corp., Siebel Systems Inc. Database connectivity to Oracle databases is also supported, as is mainframe connectivity to CICS, TN3270 and TN5250.

JCA-compliant adapters are scheduled for rollout in January of 2002.

According to the analysts at Gartner Group, developing deep adapter capabilities is a lofty goal that has strong payback potential if its properly exploited through product market share, customer innovation and a strong, successful licensing program.