New Ways to Link Data Processes

Software that combines EAI and ETL promises to let enterprises not only move data among applications but also program the applications to take actions based on that incoming data.

WebMethods Inc. and Informatica Corp. this week will announce Business Activity Platform, a product that combines features of their respective enterprise application integration and extraction, transformation and loading suites. The platform enables users to put an Informatica data extraction routine into a WebMethods workflow, said officials from WebMethods, of Fairfax, Va., and Informatica, of Redwood City, Calif.

Business Activity Platform is available now and includes Informaticas PowerAnalyzer business intelligence software, which lets users analyze business activity nearly as it is happening, the officials said.

Meanwhile, Sunopsis Inc., of Beverly, Mass., early next month will announce Version 3.1 of its namesake software, which similarly moves data among applications and arms it with triggers for further actions.

Sunopsis 3.1, available now, offers a new journalizing feature that automatically detects changes in a data source so that only changed data is moved, thus performing the process much closer to real time, officials said. The update features new message-oriented middleware, called Sunopsis MQ, that is compliant with the Java Message Service standard.

Ultimately, uniting EAI and ETL technologies could enable IT departments to set up systems that extract data, transform it and then load it into back-office manufacturing and logistics systems, where it could trigger things like work orders, officials said.

With Business Activity Platform "well be able to plug these enterprise platforms together," said Wayne Leishman, technical architect at Toronto-based Canada Life Financial Corp. "If our Informatica solutions need to send and/or receive data in real time, well now be able to."