ENTER THE MATRIX
- Pretty enlightenment EAI
Written / Li Guoping
What is IT today?
Once upon a time, I feel that the global IT economic growth is still still very distant messages. One night, I wake up, I heard a company's global layoffs, a certain group "strategic adjustment", a certain park was "sealing the door", and four sides, There is a feeling of building a building. Among them, there are both global PC demand tend to be saturated, an objective factors that grow slow, and some of the "knowledge heroes" "sense mist" "" Another important reason is the pillar of IT economic development - business users, encountered unprecedented information development bottlenecks - Enterprise Application Integration. Domestic recognized industry data shows that the ERP system has less than 10% of the success of the company. So 90% of companies? In huge resource investment and embarrassing chicken ribs or even thoroughly struggle in information systems, the purpose of production tools is to improve productivity and liberate the physical strength and mental strength of workers, but the information system that failed, failed, failed, failed, failed information system became a company development桎梏. Is it difficult to establish this business information platform? Do you have a good working application system collaborative processing business?
where is the problem?
As we all know, corporate informationization is a step-by-step process, and the company has developed from the system function according to the development of the industry. From the system function, the company has developed from the earliest finance, office automation and other systems to ERP / CRM / SCM large number of applications Intranet / Internet distributed system. The system platform is from the single machine to DOS NETWARE, from C / S to B / S, from three to N tier, and even today online world chambers to fight against J2EE and. Net. Some ancient systems have been completely eliminated, but more different periods, different platforms are still indispensable in the enterprise to undertake informationization in different business sectors. Many of the enterprises have to form an information on information. It is difficult to unify management and business collaboration. The implementation of the maintenance cost is too high. The implementation of the new business system leads to the back of the old system. The company's analysis statistics are difficult to pay more efficiently, and the competitiveness declines. B2B, B
2C
E-commerce stays in the low level of online orders, the information integration challenges of business behaviors such as enterprises, and the flexible market strategies are difficult to achieve. . . . . . The key to the problem is - how to share, consolidate and effectively utilize information system resources.
The next wave of technology boom is coming?
According to IDC prediction, in the future 3-5 years, EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) Enterprise Application Integration Service Market will become the fastest growing part of the IT industry. The global revenue in the EAI market will soar 5 billion US dollars in 2000 to $ 21 billion in 2005, and the complex year growth rate (CAGR) will exceed 30%. At the same time, the overall annual growth rate of the entire IT service industry is expected to be only 11%. North America and Western Europe will produce 90% of EAI service needs and market share, Japan and Latin America will be the subject of the remaining market share. Another research institute AMR Research gives the predictive number more optimistic, and EAI solutions will have a market size of $ 37 billion in 2005.
The seemingly harmonious development news is implied with the fatal issues of the existing information system: how to meet the urgent needs of system interaction application integration at this stage? Does all the old investment will be reached? If the answer is negative, how to ensure that the new and old system coexist in the EAI system? How to ensure information sharing and system change data migration? As the year, GDP grows in 9% high-speed China, will it play in this wave of new technologies? Chinese companies that are in terms of informationization, low application levels, can they use efforts to overeat to Europe and the United States, in the international competition under the WTO system, stand in an invincible place? Concerns and lead the hotspot technology to, assess and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises at this stage and future market, reflect on the deficiencies and bottlenecks of existing management system and information architecture, optimize business processes, and reduce operational costs, are CEOs of Chinese companies and enterprises. CTO, CIO faces the serious test of outgoing roads and breakthroughs in the challenges and challenges of CIOs. Chasing the source
If the maturity and rise of the EAI market is represented by Microsoft BizTalk Server, IBM WebSphere, and MQSeries, BEA WebLogic Integration, Vitria Businessware, etc. from 3-5 years ago, then another emphasis on enterprise information system interconnection In the past, there were more technical exchanges for electronic data, electronic data exchange referred to computer communication network and related technologies, under the minimum labor intervention, will govern, customs, insurance, banks, trade. , Transportation, warehousing, etc., using internationally recognized standard formats, realizing data exchange and processing between institutional door or institutional enterprises, and completing all the processes centered on trade. In the earliest large-scale host / terminal era, the construction of the information system gradually realized that the traditional plaque (FLAT FILE) is not ruled by its format, defines the disadvantage, and the disadvantage, and cannot be in a wide range of information systems. Take the task of information transmission and data exchange, EDI will also have a water in such a demand.
EDI technology has always played a pivotal role in the interaction of information systems such as customs and international trade, and the information system in accordance with UN / EDIFACT standards in China. In fact, many industries have the "data exchange format" that the industry association and information manufacturers will be developed. These early industry data formats have not escaped EDI's 窠 窠, such as FINANCIAL Information Exchange Financial Information Switching and Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecial Telecial Telecia) Global Bank Financial Telecom Society, the medical industry HL7 (Heath Level Seven) V2.x message definition, etc., all more or less agly, EDI is just "exchange data "Traces, how to integrate the system, how to cooperate, how to standardize the process is very defined, essentially a wide range of EDI (relative to the narrow EDI, which is launched via EDI International Organization). However, it is undeniable that EDI technology has to complete the information exchange and application integration of information systems, there are still many congenital deficiencies:
1. The exchange of static business data files is difficult to implement dynamic business process integration.
2. Inter-system inter-interoperability experience and ease of use are unreasonable, and the system has poor integration capabilities.
3. EDI technology only provides the session capabilities of the data layer, while the integration of the business layer and the application layer is still blank.
4. The exact content of the data format needs to be determined by both sides without having data self-description characteristics. Although EDI faces modern information exchange appears ancient and decay. But objectively analyzed, the EDI technology will still exist in the short term, and a cross-era bridge is laid out between the information of the new and old system, which has become an essential data carrier of EAI technology. After all, many old investment and business are based on EDI. Technical implementation system.
Characters Xiong XML
XML has been adopted by most manufacturers in the development of IT technologies in recent years, such as XML-based WebService, SOAP, UDDI, WSDL, and several EAI products described above. Waiting for a large number of technologies and platforms, even the based XML database is also a hot spot.
Essentially XML and EDI are not a level of technical concepts, but in the interaction and integration of the information system, it is two different data carriers that are the same function. XML is more advantages over traditional places and EDI format:
1. With data self-description and marking scalable characteristics, structured data representation.
2. It has a function subset of XML Schema, XSLT, XQuery, XPath, and so on.
3. Using Unicode character encoding to solve multi-language compatible coexistence issues.
4. With a widely used HTML, it is easy to integrate and apply in the Internet.
5. Data format conversion is easy to implement by XML Schema, XSLT, XPath and other techniques.
6. It is easy to establish an upper and high-level platform for universal high-teching on a common data carrier.
For example, in the past two years, XML technology, Fix Markup Language Financial Product Markup language, FPML (FINANCIAL Products Markup Language) financial product markup language, and its data is completely The HL7v3.0 will completely sacrifice compatibility with previous versions of the previous version, and HL7V3.0 is fully sacrificed. In recent years, IT is used to the disputes of IT manufacturers' technology and platform. Every new technology of a certain manufacturer is unveiled, the market's reflection is based on the bizarism, and there is also a bomb, but the XML technology is dramatically. It has obtained the unanimous sought after the many of the people's heads, and the reason is determined by the characteristics of strong data description, availability and openness, and these features are the urgent information system of this "on-demand" era. needs. It seems that on the basis of XML technology, hundreds of technical competitions that have been fighting for hundreds of congregation are just beginning.
Division of EAI
XML, is the ultimate weapon of "Unified World"? Is there a XML really enough? The answer is undoubtedly negative, XML is just a data carrier, compared to traditional EDI (from a general EDI point of view, XML is just a modern, self-described EDI data format), XML only solves the EDI cannot be self-description, etc. Question, only to exchange data, not integrated application and business, and not strong interoperability, it is necessary to build a more advanced thinking and technical system on the basis of inclusive EDI and XML. Need EAI.
The goal of EAI technology is to establish good communication, data, business and application levels between system and system, system and system, and distributed the original data, application distribution, process segmented enterprise information. Integrate organic collaborative enterprise information platforms for data integration, application integration, process automation. To establish an enterprise information system with EAI capability, grasp and evaluate the goal of EAI architecture should be: reduce the complexity of integration and interaction of each information system, reduce unnecessary artificial participation links, reduce the cost of trading unit and maintain work, and improve work Efficiency and system value, extension system life cycle, improve automation and business flexibility, establish a strong distribution information system with strong polypine coupling, ductility compatibility. Enterprises must have deployed some systems before generating information interconnection, and these single systems have not taken into consideration to build a friendly interface for the integration of future systems, and the new application information is added, and the old has System to obtain data information and collaboration services. The primary issue of EAI technology is to solve collaborative integration of new and old systems. As Java Connector Architecture, Java Connector Architecture, Java Connector, asked in J2EE1.3, attempted to establish a CCI (Common Client Interface) in Java World and complex diverse old EIS (Enterprise Information System) Enterprise Information System Generic integration specification. The new and old system application integrated method is nothing more than the definition specification of the old system to implement EAI to meet the intrusive integration of the new system EAI interface requirements or establish a dedicated adapter for the old system in the new system, so that the old system is Under transparent mode, completion of collaboration of collaboration with new systems, these two integration modes have certain drawbacks, the previous model may lead to hidden dangers in the old system, stability, and need The old system has deep understanding, and the latter model will make the new system have to make a lot of extra work for different old systems. If the new-term system is from different manufacturers, interpersonal coordination and integrated work will be more Challenge. The integrated way should be flexible, in some cases, in conjunction with two modifications, it can achieve the goal of the best workload optimal integrated performance. In a new enterprise information system construction, the complexity is slightly lowered, the decision makers or architects no longer need to care about the historical legacy, the focus of architecture design should be: transformation of the original manual or semi-active business process And optimization, and openness, ease, easy integration, and design of extensibility, compatibility, compatibility, and compatibility with future systems.
Successful EAI application system should have the following capabilities, which is also necessary for modern enterprise information systems:
1. The application service and distribution computing capacity of high-internal pelicient coupling based on the encapsulation application interaction logic.
2. Provide a powerful and flexible process automation solution, shortening business cycle reduced process unit costs to improve automation.
3. Provide business logic redefine and business process adjustable capabilities to ensure business competitiveness at business changes.
4. Minimize dependence and application integration of applications on old, current, and future systems.
5. Maximize the application's reusability and data mining capabilities of enterprise information, reflect and ensure the value of IT investment.
6. Get real-time efficient business data and process analysis (such as process bottlenecks, statistical information, error information, resource utilization, etc.).
7. Simplify distributed system interaction and integration of complexity and maintenance workload by unified application interaction logic.
8. With message, data, applications, multi-level integration capabilities, providing a consistent standardized integrated interface. Implementing EAI from low to high newsletter, data exchange, application interface, etc., a wide variety of technical implementation means, but one of these EAI technology implements a characteristic is the interaction / integration capability. Restrictivity. The more the implementation of the upper level, the more interactive, operability, and user experience, the weaker the integrated capacity and flexibility (such as EJB / DCOM, which is easy to call and real-time strength, etc. However, the platform is related to the application integration and integration with its specific platforms); and the opposite is that the underlying implementation technique can obtain strong integration flexibility and loose coupling, but the interaction capacity is relatively weak ( Such as Socket, DB, Message Queue, file transmission, etc. can be docked with other information systems, but developers must do more work to meet the business needs of system interaction). Today, IT technology is currently different, Web Service / SOAP technology can obtain unanimous recognition and extensive adoption of IT vendors and corporate users, with its good interaction / integration capacity, extended compatibility, platform-independence in EAI The characteristics are not open. In fact, Web Service is also due to the technical requirements for the interaction and integration of two demand due to the demand drive of EAI. There are both interactive capabilities similar to CORBA / DOCM / EJB, and also have a wide range of support similar to TCP / IP and platform-independent. Needless, Web Service is the most dynamic and developing technique of Eai Ready IT technology.
Application integration - Fang Xingxiao, Ren Zhongyuan
As the corporate informationization is gradually gradually, enterprise application integration is also a phased process of collaborative interconnection of related companies that are integrated into the entire enterprise value chain (Value Chain). In this process, enterprises from the initial single enterprise P2P (Peer to Peer), A
2A
(Application to Application) Point-to-point, the application of the basic interconnection of the application matures B2B, B. B2B, B, integral
2C
Integrated ERP / CRM / SCM, etc. Internal and peripheral systems cross-platform cross-platform cross-enterprise cross-industry application interconnection system. At the same time, EAI starts from providing the most basic data exchange information, can gradually develop into process, transaction automation collaborative management and distribution calculation processing, conversion and verification of data, routes, distribution, and integration of data The stored query, the BI (Business Intelligence) business intelligence system for extracting, cleaning, clustering, mining, predicting statistical functions. To minimize information costs (minimize business risks, minimize business cycle, minimize system complexity, minimize data redundancy, minimize human intervention, etc.), maximize information value (maximize social benefits, maximize enterprise competitiveness To maximize data mining capabilities, maximize system life cycle, maximize system integration, etc.).
The development evolution of enterprise information systems has experienced a single system -> complex system -> integrated difficulties -> Formulate standards -> Unified system, in fact, EAI plays the coordination of standard settlers and unified systems The role of the person, however, whether the EAI technology of the standard and integrated enterprise information system should also have standards? If the EAI technology of different vendors cannot be well coordinated work and interaction, is it in the dilemma of the EAI system differential from the dilemma of the enterprise application system? - The same answer, the standard is wins. EAI's standard range includes the EDI standard defined by UN / EDIFACT, information-interactive packet format, universal ODBC / JDBC, TCP / IP, RPC / CORBA protocol, etc., various technologies, etc. The communication agreement should follow the consistent format and version. The rear Xi Xiu Web Service in EAI implementation is also aware of this: Mutual operating WS-i intertwined between Microsoft, IBM, SAP, Oracle, Intel and other vendors (Web Services) (Web Services) (Web SERVICES) Interoperability Organization) Web Services Interoperability Organized by Microsoft, IBM, and BEA Follow the Commercial Process Language XLANG for its main business (Note: Developed by Microsoft, focusing on graphics) and WSFL (note : WEB service, the business process, the Web Service, which is the business process of the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services, which is developed by IBM, Structured Construction of IBM, is marked with Web Service. It has also established a good compatibility standard basic support for EAI implementation. In some industries, it has also begun to show the momentum of the industry EAI standard. The goal of IHE (Integrating The Healthcare Enterprise) integrated medical resources is to develop the original HL7 and DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications IN Medicine medical industry digital imaging and communication, etc. "medical industry communication protocol. Together, the purpose of unification of HIS, RIS / PACS, LIS, CIS, ICU / CCU, etc. in the medical institution system, and establish EAI standards in the medical industry. It can be seen that in the next few years, the industry-oriented EAI integration standard will also push EAI to more standardized standardization. Matrix Revolution - Open Grid Computing Age
The predictive number of IDC, grid computing will soar from $ 400 million in 2002 to $ 12 billion in 2007. Before and after 2010, this number will reach 30 billion; the most recent IDC targets 1071 IT policymakers The mesh performance computing survey shows that one-fifth of the enterprise plan will adopt the effectiveness calculation structure in the next year, of which 5.5% is already in six months, 4.9% will be in one During the year, 6.4% of companies will be completed within two years.
The birth and development of the Internet has a profound impact on enterprise informationization. When the first-generation Internet represents E-mail, the world's distance is reduced into "Earth Village", and any computer that accesss the Internet can get information from the other corner of the world in an instant; and the second generation of Internet HTML and Web technology uniform networks into a colorful visual page era, extending thousands of network applications; and third-generation Internet will "try to achieve comprehensive communication of all resources on the Internet, including computing resources, storage resources, Communication resources, data resources, information resources, knowledge resources, expert resources, etc., this is GIRD computing. Grid computing is a set of emerging technologies on the Internet based on the Internet. The infrastructure is based on IP protocol broadband digital communication network, which will change traditional Client / Server and Client / Cluster structures to form a new Pervasive / Grid system. Structure, this architecture will enable users to treat the entire network as a huge computer and enjoy integration, dynamic changes, flexible control, intelligent, collaborative information services. Comparison EAI and Grid Computing are not difficult to find that EAI has a characteristic of grid computing in many ways: 1. Sharing and integrate distributed data, applications, calculations.
2. No centralized control centers are required to run around the world.
3. Open information communication protocols and interface formats using generic standards.
4. Provides high aggregated low-coupling synergistic transaction and computing power.
The only difference is that the system of the mesh calculates the system of the age, and it should have the ability to interact and integrate system interaction, while EAI is the same distributed computing and synergistic business processing by integrating and transforming the old system. It can be said that EAI is the original Grid Computing prototype. The fundamental characteristics of grid computing should be "resource sharing, transaction collaboration", rather than how large, wide range. That is to say, the government, the military, and professional research institutions and enterprises can establish "exclusive grid" system according to their own needs, and complete "resource sharing, transaction cooperation" within a certain range. These applications are also integrating with EAI more than just commercial enterprises, but also the application integration in systems such as government, research institutions.
IT technology is mutually influential, and it is also true of Web Services visible, EAI, Web Service and other technologies for the implementation of EAI. Grid computing technology is to enter commercialization. The primary problem facing is how to integrate the old information system or interact with its platform, only solve the problem of the computes of the new and old system, Grid Computing can only serve in the business field. In fact, IT Jocks have already seen this problem, such as grid technology pioneers Globus project group, GGF (GLOBAL GRID Forum Global Grid Forum, Object Management Group) Object Management Organization, W
3C
(WORLD WIDE Web Consortium) Global Network Alliance and other organizations and a large number of participation in IT vendors for the development of grid standards, actively participate in grid standard research and implementation, and on the other hand, manufacturers also examine their own platform and Products, trying to add technical and platforms that are strong and integrated, good integration. Such as Web Services, J2EE ,. NET and other technologies and platforms are already or will be included in the grid system. The most representative and vital technology in the near future is the OGSA (Open Grid Services Architecture) Open Grid Service Architecture and OgSI (Open Grid Services Infrastructure) open grid service infrastructure in February 2002. Globus Toolkit 3.0 (GT3), which combines Globus standards and Web Services technology, which has introduced Grid Service, combines Grid Computing's forward-looking to Web Service's practicality. Borrowing Grid Computing into the business opportunity stage of business opportunities by Web Service, it ends the age of the lack of the application of the academic frontier. In January this year, Globus, IBM and HP, etc., also jointly issued a new grid standard WSRF (Web Services Resource Framework) Web Service Resource Framework, which modified the original OGSI to six specification for extending Web Services. It is expected that the Globus Toolkit 4.0 based on the new standard WSRF based on the third quarter of this year will be officially available, and the grid service will be fully implemented based on Web Services. It is expected that the Grid Computing is greatly established in the next few years of grid service, which provides powerful corners of information, anytime, anywhere. This revolutionary innovation also marks the thorough integration of Grid Computing and Web Service. Grid computing will join hands with Web Services to provoke the over-information construction of information construction, in the collaborative calculation, distribution of data storage, application integration, and flow in the company's distributed system EAI applications such as automation play a huge potential. EAI is also a non-two manner that transforms the old information system, adapts to and ensures that this grid tide transition is. Whether it is from the perspective of enterprise information system, today's EAI system with Grid prototype, or from Grid Computing and Web Service, combined with historical mission to help information system integration in business areas, EAI will be Guide the pioneers and beneficiaries of the Grid Computing revolution. At the same time, it also marks the distributed enterprise information system has entered the golden age. If the grid computing will end the information of the information of the island, then EAI is the trend of this wave of information. Prometheus (Note: Prometheus, Greek myths bring fire, giving human world warm and bright If the grid calculation will be the great revolution of the field change information world, EAI's meaning is as Mtrix Morpheus (Note: Guide Anderson to become NEO, and lead the revolution in the previous era). Is it possible to say that the gate of the grid calculation era will also be turned on by EAI?
MATRIX revelation
"The Matrix" three-step movie is not only a sci-fi movie, but also in the technical BBS in the technical BBS in the nature of the various roles and environments. Transcending the software R & D itself, more Matrix As Windows, Zion As Linux. Its understanding of the artificial intelligence of Ai (Artificial Intelligence), which has more intelligence, thinking, learning, can create more advanced individuals, which has life, and interpretation of artificial intelligence and life has Improve the height of philosophy and theology. Among this movie, each human beings are like a smart client (Note: Microsoft's new SMART Client technology), which can have independent thinking and words and deeds, or a hole in the brain ( Although it is so crude to abused to complete the interaction with the system environment, it is true and perfect interactive experience in the virtual world, and these huge systems can complete the heterogeneous system through some interface software (such as the trainman). Information interaction and data delivery, thereby will not count the number of nodes such as humans (responsible for some complex computers that cannot be simulated), software (each software must have its specific function, otherwise it will be deleted), system (Matrix and other) seamlessly integrated together, outlined the magnificent global physical location distribution, logical interface integration (and computer-led) information system blueprints, forming Matrix era The supercomputer and information system, which is also the ultimate dream of EAI and Grid Computing. Imagine that all information systems running in the world can have seamlessly completed information interaction and transaction collaboration, and the great Matrix era after Internet is started! As MATRIX is known, development and progress are irreversible, and the people in the universe and space of the sea should reflect on the subjective understanding of the past, accept the human population in the evolution chain, is more advanced, the wisdom creature (eg Ai) Instead, the unversable universe history? At least, EAI technology can play a certain impact and enlightenment role in the thoughts of closing locks, solid self-sealing systems?
Note: Since this paper covers a wide range of technical fields, the author refers to the many domestic and international technical information during the writing process, and specialists are particularly grateful to their seniors and their deep and exquisite technical ideas! In addition, some views in the text are summarized by the author's own work experience, only for the reference of the brick introduction.
Drawings: Information System Interaction / Integrated Development History
