Middle Ware
...Technology
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1
Brief History of EAI/Middleware 2
What is involved in EAI/Middleware? 3
Application Programming Interface (API) 4
Middleware/EAI Basics 5
Middleware and Computer Telephony 6
Java Middleware Evolving Use of EAI Technology 7
Middleware Usage Considerations 9
Middleware Developmental Stage 9
Middleware Costs, Limitations, and Economic Outlook 10
EAI/Middleware Market Leaders and Sample Middleware Vendors and Earnings 11
Market Leaders 11
Sample EAI/Middleware Vendors and Earnings 11
Conclusion 12
Potential Challenges of Middleware/EAI 12
The Future of Java Middleware 12
The Future of Middleware/EAI 12
APPENDIX A a
Webliography/Bibliography i
TABLE OF FIGURES
Middleware Software "Bus" Architecture 1
Legacy Enterprise Situation 2
Middleware/EAI Enterprise Solution 3
Basic API Architecture 5
TAPI facilitates IP Telephony, which enables voice, data, and video over existing LANs, WANs, and the Internet. 7
Introduction
Middleware, which is quickly becoming synonymous with enterprise applications integration (EAI), is software that is invisible to the user. It takes two or more different applications and makes them work seamlessly together. This is accomplished by placing middleware between layers of software to make the layers below and on the sides work with each other (Figure 1). On that broad definition, middleware could be almost any software in a layered software stack. Further, middleware is a continually evolving term. Since much of the software business is driven through the perceptions of the "hottest" current technologies, many companies are giving their software the name "middleware" because it is popular.
Middleware, or EAI, products enable information to be shared in a seamless real-time fashion across multiple functional departments, geographies and applications....
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