SOA Data Integration

Most SOA projects are focused on reusing existing business logic, and not on what will be required to integrate data from heterogeneous data sources. This level of complexity, if not dealt with in the planning stages of SOA projects, will get worse over time as usage increases.

Aggregating data from various sources such as XML
documents, web services, relational databases, and EDI and legacy formats can prove to be a time-consuming challenge using conventional languages and interfaces. The amount of code required is huge, which of course makes it more difficult to maintain. Inevitably, you also run into problems dealing
with multiple data models.

These traditional data integration approaches also usually
follow traditional data access architecture characteristics
(tightly coupled, complex state machine, connection based,
and relational model driven).

Using a data integration solution from DataDirect is a better way to bridge the disparity between older approaches and the characteristics associated with SOA (loosely coupled, stateless, message-centric, and typically XML-based data interchange.)

DataDirect Data Integration Suite

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The DataDirect Data Integration Suite is a key enabling technology for accessing and processing heterogeneous data sources within a SOA, including XML, relational data, SOAP messages, and legacy data formats like EDI. It is based on the XML data model, providing seamless integration in today’s web service-centric infrastructures and more in line with the goals of service-oriented computing. It also provides abstraction between the consumer of the data and the physical details about out how the data is stored, making it an ideal foundation technology for a data services layer.

The DataDirect Data Integration Suite vastly simplifies the process of combining and processing different types of data in a SOA environment.

Dealing with Performance and Scalability Issues

When you’re talking about data integration solutions that access heterogeneous data sources and possibly very large data sets, it’s obvious that performance and scalability become concerns. In addition, the emphasis that service orientation places on reuse can lead to ever-increasing usage demands. These issues are exactly what distinguish one data integration solution from another.

The DataDirect Data Integration Suite dramatically outperforms other tools or hand-coded applications. Real-world benchmarking reveals that the DataDirect Suite takes a fraction of the time to do the same work as other tools on the market (e.g., 10 seconds vs. 8 minutes). That's because the DataDirect Data Integration Suite provides special query optimization and mediation for the best possible performance when accessing relational data. Only the minimum amount of data is moved out of the database, leveraging indexes and tuning defined on the database server.

High-end scalability is achieved through advanced optimization techniques, including document projection and streaming. This drastically reduces the amount of memory required when processing gigabyte-size data files.

Converting Legacy File Formats Like EDI

Newer web-based applications are based on XML and often require being able to interoperate with legacy systems, including legacy data formats like EDI.

Typically this involves intense manual coding to convert to XML.

With the DataDirect Data Integration Suite you can automatically transform thousands of EDI and flat file formats to XML and back, ready to use from any Java or .NET application—with no development required.

Now you can easily integrate core legacy systems within your SOA, reusing proven integration methodologies, and enabling a more flexible IT infrastructure.

With the DataDirect Data Integration Suite, you get an easy, efficient way to create data services, exposing XML-based, abstracted interfaces to a variety of heterogeneous data sources. Using a robust, scalable and highly performing solution for data integration from DataDirect is the best option for managing data in support of SOA. The same level of modularity, reuse, and business agility that you’ve already started to appreciate within the business service layer can now be realized within the data services layer as well.

Learn more about the DataDirect Data Integration Suite, or if you would like to speak to an expert about your data integration needs, please call 1-800-876-3101 or submit a Request for Information form and an account executive will contact you.