EXTOL Business Integrator

Replace cumbersome, limited translators and toolkits with the versatile EXTOL Business Integrator

EXTOL Business Integrator (EBI) is platform-independent business integration middleware that tackles a wide variety of business integration requirements, without coding.  It supports Business-to-Business, Application, Data, and Cloud integration, with one investment in middleware, tools, and skills.

EBI is designed to replace conventional EDI translators, mapping tools, XML integrators, data integration tools, and web services toolkits.  It integrates seamlessly with your existing applications, data, and business processes. You can use EBI to create simple, point-to-point connections that automate parts of larger processes, or to implement longer, more complex integration applications that integrate in-house application software, trading partners, Cloud applications and services, and business data resources, in any combination.

And with the companion EXTOL Integration Studio (EIS) Design-time Automation™ environment, building and maintaining integration applications is faster and simpler than ever before.  EIS lets you deliver business integration processes to production far faster than other tools, so your return on your integration investment occurs earlier.

EBI supports "lights-out" automation across the four main categories of business integration:

• Business-to-Business Integration: integration between trading partners, business applications, and enterprise data, based on EDI transactions, XML documents, flat files, or spreadsheets
• Application and Services Integration: Non-invasive integration with applications and application-exposed services, in support of business process automation
• Data Integration: Extraction, transformation, and publication of business data to business intelligence applications, trading partners, and applications
• Cloud Integration: Integration of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications and external Web Services with other applications and data

EBI includes all of the infrastructure you need to integrate your business, including an integration broker, application server, repository database, and dashboard server.  All components are pre-integrated, and install in just minutes.  EBI runs on your choice of Windows, Linux, or IBM System i platforms, and the integration applications you create are also platform-independent.  So your integration investments are protected if you decide to move from one platform to another.

EBI is available as a complete integration solution for multiple document syntaxes or as one of several syntax-specific Data Integrator options.

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EBI built-in services support all integration lifecycle phases and activities

EBI provides a complete spectrum of integration and automation services that you can use to create and maintain integration applications:

• Mediation Services: Monitoring, routing, activation, and other services that implement built-in support for EDI, change data capture, SOAP and REST web services, messaging, and customer-defined mediations.
  
• Business Process Automation: Services that execute and control the sequencing of adapter operations, data transformations, web service invocations, inter- and intra- process data communications, and other process tasks.
• Data Transformation: Rule-driven validation, transformation, data enrichment, and content-based routing for EDI, XML, flat files, spreadsheets, and database content.
• Adapters and Communication Services: Synchronous and asynchronous communications with external (trading partners, SaaS applications, Cloud services) and internal (applications, internal services, and data resources) integration endpoints, through built-in service-level adapters and optional Enterprise Application Adapters.
• Business Activity Monitoring: Logging, monitoring, auditing, and reporting on business processes, execution results, and overall system behavior, in support of testing, exception handling, and capacity planning activities.
• System Management Services: Customizable exit points and callable services for exception routing and notification, system and process status query, system suspend and resume, and backup and restore.

EBI business integration applications are more robust- and easier to create

Unlike coded integration, EBI applications are built and maintained using modeled, configured, or generated objects.  Each object invokes or supports the use of runtime services implemented in the EBI Server.  For example, Process objects invoke Business Process Automation services, Transformation objects invoke Data Transformation services, and Adapter objects invoke Adapter and Communication Services.

Building integration applications from objects not only simplifies the creation of custom business integration, it also reduces the time and effort needed for delivery, by enabling reuse at multiple levels.  In addition to reusing individual objects, like Adapters, Data Transformations, and Document Schemas, you can achieve even more productivity by reusing objects at the Business Process level.

Business Processes are assemblies of objects that implement a multi-step sequence, including adapters, data transformations, email notifications, and others.  Using EXTOL Integration Studio, you model, generate, configure and reuse integration objects to produce Business Processes for specific business outcomes.  And by modifying or replacing Adapters and other elements to support different process behavior requirements, you can reuse entire Business Processes.  EIS even offers a Process Template mechanism to make Business Process reuse easier and more flexible.

To create larger integration applications, you can chain and compose Business Processes, using sub-process invocations, Events, Schedules, data routing, and other mechanisms.  For example, you can use a Data Transformation to conditionally route data records and elements to one or more sub-processes, each of which can, in turn, invoke other processes, raise Events, transform data for target applications or recipients, invoke web services, or otherwise extend processing, downstream.

One of the characteristics that make Business Processes so reusable is the separation of business-specific behavior from the technical details of activation and communication with the external environment.  Business Processes can be activated by web service requests, externally raised Events, Schedules, data Monitors, Message arrival, and other external activities.  Embedding activation logic in the Business Processes themselves would significantly diminish reusability and increase complexity.  Instead, EBI externalizes activation control in separate Mediations.

Mediations are collections of configured objects that implement and control resource monitoring, routing, process activation, and other services.  Because you configure, rather than model these services, defining mediation behavior is fast and simple.

In addition to manual and scheduled activation, EBI supports the following kinds of Mediations:

• Web Service mediations, which are implemented by web service providers, using SOAP or REST conventions
• EDI Inbound mediations, which implement syntax analysis, de-enveloping, validation, routing, Functional Acknowledgement generation, and other services
• EDI Outbound mediations, which implement application data analysis, collaboration routing, enveloping, and other services
• Change Data Capture mediations, which include file and database change monitoring, filtering, queueing / archiving, and event management services
• Message-driven mediations, which detect, filter, and route messages using the Java Messaging Service (JMS)
• Application-driven mediations, in which applications control activation using the EBI Event Notification API.
• Custom mediations that use built-in endpoint, collaboration, and event management services to implement additional activation mechanisms.

Wizards and mediation configurators implemented in EXTOL Integration Studio enable you to define mediation behavior and connections to Business Processes that define business-specific integration behavior.

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Use EBI to integrate external partners, applications, and services with internal applications and data

EBI applications comprise one or more Business Processes and Mediations that work together to produce a desired business result. The individual processes that make up each application are usually simple, and focus on the production of a single data output or result set.

The following examples illustrate a small subset of the EBI applications you can build using EXTOL Integration Studio.   Note that there is no coding required to build these (or other) EBI applications.

Example 1: Detect and transform inbound XML Orders and post to ERP transaction files

In Example 1, an EBI File System Monitor is configured to detect the arrival of a file containing XML Orders in a designated source directory.  The file could be written by an FTP, AS2, email, back-end portal, or other communications process, or by an internal application or utility.  When the file Write operation completes, the file system monitor raises an Event in the EBI server, passing the file handle as event data.  The EBI Event Manager activates the business process that is designated to handle that event type, passing the file handle as a process parameter.  The business process then transforms the XML order data to an ERP-defined flat file format, and optionally notifies the ERP that input data is available.

Here are the main steps needed to create this example: 

• Configure the file system monitor and database INSERT adapter.
• Generate the XML document schema from external metadata (.dtd or .xsd) and the flat file document schema from sample data.
• “Smart Map” the XML-to-Flat file data transformation.
• Model the business process or generate it, if using the Project Builder.

See EXTOL Integration Studio for details.

Example 2:  Process inbound EDI transactions

Example 2 depicts a standard mediation sequence for processing inbound EDI data, which could be activated manually, on a schedule, or by an event.  The EDI data might be pulled from a Value Added Network (VAN), pushed via an AS2 connection, sent on a schedule using FTP, or even attached to a web service or email.  If the EDI data is batched with non-EDI data, syntax analysis separates the EDI content, the de-enveloper isolates individual segments or messages, and the collaboration router matches each to a business process, based on partner ID, version, document ID, and other envelope attributes.  The business process transforms the segment or message to a target format, in this case, an SAP IDoc.  The business process also issues a remote function call to activate SAP processing, and might perform other tasks, such as issuing email notifications to CSRs or other interested parties.

Here are the main steps needed to create this example: 

• Use the EDI Provisioning Assistant to generate one or more partner Endpoints.
• Run the EDI Inbound Wizard to create a project and populate it with the process shell, EDI schema, FTP adapter, and File Write adapter.
• Generate the IDoc document schema from SAP-supplied metadata (parser file) .
• “Smart Map” the EDI-to-IDoc data transformation.
• Create a collaboration that links the Endpoint with the Business Process.
• Create an outbound 997 Endpoint and Acknowledgement for FA generation, if required by partner.

See EXTOL Integration Studio for details.

Example 3:  Generate outbound EDI transactions

Example 3 shows an outbound EDI mediation sequence that includes two Business Processes.  The sequence begins when the first Business Process, which could be activated manually, on a schedule, or by an event selects the source data for EDI generation – in this case, a result set from an ERP database.  Based on grouping attributes in the database document schema, the output tuples are tagged to reflect the desired outbound enveloping sequence.  A collaboration routing service then passes each row produced by the first Business Process to a downstream Business Process, which transforms it into an EDI message.  A data enveloping service then envelopes the generated outbound transactions and passes the enveloped result to a data communication service, for transport to the target business partner.

Here are the main steps needed to create this example: 

• Create an Application Endpoint that defines identifying document attributes and matching partner attributes.
• Use the EDI Provisioning Assistant to generate one or more EDI Partner Endpoints.
• Generate the database document schema from DBMS catalog metadata and the EDI document schema from built-in standards metadata.
• Run the EDI Application Wizard to create an application analysis and routing Transformation rule set.
• Model the business process for the Select and Route Source Data process.
• “Smart Map” the Database-to-EDI Transformation rule set.
• Create the Generate EDI Target Data process from the Outbound EDI process template.
• Create a collaboration that links the Application Endpoint with the EDI Endpoint and the Generate EDI Target Data process.

See EXTOL Integration Studio for details.

Example 4:  Product availability web service

In example 4, we have a simple web service Provider mediation that responds to on-demand web service requests for product availability information.  The Partner creates a REST Consumer (this example could also be implemented using SOAP) that sends an availability request containing query parameters in the URL or HTTP headers.  The REST Provider receives the request and invokes the back-end Business Process, passing the query parameters.  The Business Process binds the query parameters to the Database SELECT Adapter and activates the business process.  The business process executes the Database adapter to select the requested data, transforms the data into a formatted spreadsheet, and passes the spreadsheet back to the Partner, through a synchronous response task (the response could also be asynchronous).

Here are the main steps needed to create this example: 

• Run the Web Service Provider Wizard to generate the Provider business process, including the synchronous response task.  This step also generates the Provider service according to the configuration you specify, and will optionally deploy the service.
• Generate the Database document schema from DBMS catalog metadata (this step also generates the SELECT adapter) and generate the spreadsheet document schema from sample data.
• Modify the generated database SELECT adapter to accept query parameters, using substitution variables.
• “Smart Map” the Database-to-Spreadsheet Transformation.
• Modify the generated Business Process to bind the inbound query parameters to the database adapter, invoke the data transformation, and connect the transformation output to the synchronous response task.

See EXTOL Integration Studio for details.

Example 5: Synchronizing ERP and WMS transactions

Example 5 depicts a change data capture mediation, in which database changes performed by an upstream application – in this case, an ERP system – trigger downstream processing – in this case, inventory allocation in a WMS.  In addition to the application-to-application integration implemented in this mediation, the same change data capture mechanism can be used for database synchronization, e-commerce order validation and routing, automated notifications for pricing, product availability, order status, and other cases.

Processing begins when the ERP application (or any application using the database) Inserts, Updates, or Deletes one or more Orders.  Depending on which database content changes, database triggers invoke the EBI stored procedure, which filters, (optionally) queues, and (if data is to be pushed) routes the Order data.  This processing occurs either at the row or SQL statement level, according to the EBI Database Monitor configuration.  The stored procedure notifies the EBI Event Manager, passing the row-level or statement-level change data as an XML document.  The Event Manager then activates the Business Process, passing the XML event data, and the business process executes.  The data transformation generates WMS order inputs and transmits them to the WMS, using a web service.  Note that the data transformation task might optionally query the ERP database to retrieve data related to but not included in the order data passed with the Event.

Here are the main steps needed to create this example:

• Configure the database monitor to perform the desired DBMS-side triggering, filtering, queueing, routing, etc.  This step also generates the source XML document schema needed for the data transformation.
• Use the Web Service Consumer Wizard to generate the web service adapter from the WMS-supplied WSDL.  This step also generates the target XML document schema.
• “Smart Map” the XML-to-XML data transformation.
• Model the business process.

See EXTOL Integration Studio for details.

EBI is designed to be easy to use for everyone – from IT professionals to technical business analysts

EXTOL Business Integrator provides support for all three phases of Business Integration – Build, Integrate, and Maintain – in one simplified, streamlined product. It can be used by a single individual to create, test, and deploy integration processes from beginning to end. Or it can be used by teams with multiple participants and roles – including business analysts, developers, and IT operations personnel.

The Build Phase:  Creating EBI integration applications

EBI supports activities in the Build lifecycle phase, as follows:

• Project Planning and Creation:  EBI support for mediations, integration patterns, process templates, process composition, loose object coupling, object reuse, and rapid iterative prototyping makes it easier to decompose and identify the project components you need in your integration project.
• Document schema definition:  EBI and EXTOL Integration Studio accelerate document definition by combining predefined standards metadata (for X12 and EDIFACT EDI), metadata importers (for XML, WSDL, Database, SAP IDoc, and Oracle EC Gateway files), and schema generation from examples (for Flat Files and Spreadsheets).
• Mapping:  In addition to code-free drag-and-drop mapping, the EXTOL Integration Studio includes Smart Mapping, a buil-in mapping assistant that applies advanced pattern matching and artificial intelligence methods to suggest source-target matches and apply transformation rules based on mapping history, syntax analysis, dictionaries, and matching of document schema tags.

  The Integration Pattern Repository (IPR) is a Cloud-based community mapping history repository that directly integrates with EXTOL Integration Studio and the Smart Mapping feature. Leveraging a heuristic engine to compare source and target schemas in a Ruleset, the IPR provides mapping suggestions when local mapping history is not available by identifying element-level matches and creating a custom History Profile with the best possible mapping suggestions. The Smart Mapping engine uses the generated History Profile to generate best-case mappings between the source and target schemas.

  The IPR includes preloaded mapping history patterns for JD Edwards, Oracle EBS, SAP ERP, TMW IES (ICC), TMW Suite, and other popular commercial applications.

• Adapter Configuration:  EXTOL Integration Studio provides a number of configurators for rapid generation of adapter objects from simple configuration dialogs. Supported adapter types include file and file monitor, database and database monitor, web service consumer and provider, FTP and Secure FTP (with SSL and SSH), AS2, VAN, and optional Enterprise Adapters for SAP ERP, Oracle E-Business Suite, TMW applications, and more.
• Business Process Modeling:  EBI’s highly flexible process architecture supports process composition, process templates, internal and external events, and invocation of external programs and OS services.  Wizards and scaffolds generate simple processes, and graphical or tabular Process Modelers enable specification of arbitrarily complex processes.  
• Mediation Configuration: Mediations are collections of built-in services for activating business processes and isolating them from environment dependencies. In addition to scheduling and event management, EBI includes mediation services for inbound and outbound EDI (requires the EDI Integrator option), web service consumer and provider integrations, event-driven change data capture for files and databases, message- and application-driven integrations, and custom combinations of the above.
• Testing:  EXTOL Integration Studio lets you test locally, with tools for process monitoring, auditing, and error diagnosis, and iterate until you achieve the results you need. 
  
• Deployment: The included Archiver and UnArchiver utilities automate the process of creating and deploying project packages to Test and Production target systems. With EBI, you can build, test, and deploy integrations on the same platform type or on different supported platforms, in any combination. Once deployed, you can monitor system activity using the web-based EXTOL Dashboard component.

These Build activities are supported through integrated modelers, configurators, and generators implemented in EXTOL Integration Studio (EIS), the design-time companion to EBI.  EIS lets you rapidly create, reuse, and assemble integration components to create applications, and rapidly iterate changes as requirements and business needs evolve.

The steps you take when creating or modifying an integration application will vary, depending on the mediations used (EDI, change data capture, web service, etc.) and sophistication of the business processes you need. EXTOL Integration Studio makes it easy to create larger, more functional business processes by composing or chaining smaller ones.

Integration processes can be deployed to your choice of supported platforms. You can create and test systems using online or offline PCs, then deploy them to production on any other supported OS environment.

The Integrate Phase:  Operating EBI integration applications

The Integrate phase encompasses installation, operation, monitoring, management, and updating of integration infrastructure and applications in your Test and Production environments. 

EBI supports Integrate phase activities, as follows:

• Setup and Configuration:  EBI includes all of the infrastructure you need for business integration, so there are no additional pieces to acquire, integrate, and maintain.  Installation is automated, and requires just minutes to complete, unlike some other middleware that requires days of planning, installation, integration, and testing. Once installed, you can begin using it immediately.
• Activity Monitoring:  EBI includes a web-based dashboard, plus monitoring utilities for servers, resource monitors, and business processes.  It also offers exit points for customized handling of common exceptions, as well as a server management API that enables automated monitoring and notification of system-level exceptions.
• Exception Handling:  EBI provides automated logging, customizable exit points for standard exceptions, email notifications for application-specific exceptions, and an Auditor utility for diagnosis.
• Routine backups:  EBI includes utilities for log and data purging, plus server Suspend and Resume functions that that can be invoked manually or through the server management API.  Together with standard backup services, these features enable fully automated routine backups.
• Upgrades:  Each new release of EBI includes an automated upgrade function.  The upgrade migrates integration projects to the new release, automatically.
  

The Maintain Phase:  Extending capabilities and responding to change

The Maintain phase encompasses activities needed to plan, migrate, extend, test, and deploy modified integration applications.

EXTOL Integration Studio provides full tool support for activities in the Maintain phase, from requirements analysis through testing and deployment.

Many of the activities and tools applied to maintaining integration applications – process modeling, mapping, and adapter configuration, for example – are the same ones used for building new applications.  But EXTOL Integration Studio provides specific support for some of the most time consuming maintenance activities, including:

• Document schema maintenance – Schema Generators for EDI, XML, Database, Flat file, Spreadsheet, IDoc, and Oracle ECG files make fast work of regenerating source and target transformation schemas that have changed.
• Transformation map maintenance – The Migration Assistant automates the migration of multiple data transformation maps at once, when source or target schema changes invalidate existing map rules.
• Transformation map extension – Smart Mapping and the Integration Pattern Repository automate both new map creation and maintenance of existing maps.
• EDI partner onboarding and maintenance – The EDI Provisioning Assistant accelerates the process of generating endpoints when you need to onboard new Partners or support new B2B document types.

With powerful integration services and industry-leading ease of use, EBI delivers everything you need to solve your toughest business challenges

With a product as versatile as EBI, it is almost impossible to identify all of the ways that it can help you solve your integration problems – and save time and money. But we have assembled 19 of the top reasons you should choose EBI for your organization. Please read the selections below to see more details. And when you’re ready to see a demo of EBI in action, click here and get in touch with us. Thanks for your interest in EBI.

1. EBI targets multiple business integration domains and project types: EBI provides a single set of integration services and tools that can be applied to virtually any business integration project or business area.
2. EBI frees you from platform dependencies: Unlike coded integration and many special-purpose, integration point products, EBI provides identical services and capabilities on all supported platforms, so you can build and deploy in a mixed platform environment, and if your business needs change, move to any other supported platform with full protection of your investments in software and integration deliverables.
3. EBI comes complete, with no costly prerequisites to install and use: EBI includes the underlying infrastructure needed in order to use it, including a built-in application server, repository manager, and dashboard server. Not only does this significantly reduce your total cost of ownership, it also means that you can install and begin using EBI with far less time and effort than with competing solutions.
4. EBI offers built-in mediation support:  EBI lets you configure inbound and outbound EDI, file and database change data capture, SOAP and REST web services, and application- and message driven mediations, making it far easier and faster to deliver working applications than with competing solutions, which in turn accelerates the onset of business benefits.
5. EBI integrates with your existing applications, data, and partner interfaces: EBI implements industry-standard interfaces for file access, database access, web services access, FTP, and AS2, to facilitate integration with your existing applications, data, and partner interfaces.
6. EBI lets you build and maintain integration applications faster and at lower cost:  Through its industry-leading Design-time Automation™ features, EXTOL Integration Studio, the design-time companion to EBI, slashes project delivery time by generating many project deliverables that must be modeled or configured manually, using competitor products.
7. EBI offers built-in support for object reuse: EBI implements consistent, abstract interfaces between source and target document definitions, transformation rulesets, adapters, and other integration objects, and provides built-in assistance (e.g., in the Project Builder) for reusing objects in multiple integration processes.
8. EBI leverages tools and skills across projects: EBI employs a small set of configurable object types that can be applied consistently across business domains and integration projects. This increases leverage from investments in software infrastructure, tools, and skills, making it possible for individuals who use EBI for one project to successfully tackle other projects with very different business requirements, processing logic, interfaces, and data types.
9. EBI integrates without programming: With EBI, you build and maintain integration applications using graphical modeling, configuration, and generation methods, not programming. So you can build sophisticated integration applications faster and less expensively, without resorting to scarce IT specialists or armies of expensive consultants.
10. EBI is easy to learn and use: EBI was designed from the start to enable small IT organizations with limited resources and skills to deliver sophisticated business integration solutions rapidly and affordably. Features like the guided Project Builder, EDI wizards, and web services wizards shorten ramp-up time for new users, and make it possible to deliver results rapidly, without the need to master the details of underlying implementations.
11. EBI supports powerful data-driven routing and processing: Many integration problems require the ability to direct processing based on the value of data contained in B2B transactions, databases, files, spreadsheets, messages, and other integration payloads. EBI simplifies data-driven integration by supporting conditional execution of applications, web services, transformations, and other business processes directly from the data transformation model. This provides an unparalleled combination of power, flexibility, and simplicity.
12. EBI produces self-documenting integration deliverables: Many competing products offer graphical specification tools that facilitate creation of new integration deliverables, but make it difficult to understand – and therefore, extend – the behavior of existing deliverables. EBI avoids this problem by generating human-readable specifications for both processes and transformations, which greatly improves maintainability and facilitates team hand-offs.
13. EBI offers scalable packaging to suit different needs: EBI is available as a full product, with or without the EDI Integrator option, or as one of several Data Integrator subset options. For companies in need of a specific type of business integration – like web services integration, EDI integration, or XML document integration – the Data Integrator options are affordable, project-scaled alternatives to limited point solutions, but allow you to add capabilities at any time, simply by entering a new license key.
14. EBI speeds time-to-production and enhances business agility: EBI’s easy-to-use tools and reusable building block approach reduce the time, effort, and expense needed to put new partners, new connections, and interface changes into production. And by slashing time-to-production, EBI makes it easier for your business to tap into new revenue sources, respond to unforeseen customer demands, change supply strategies, and in general, gain an agility advantage over your competitors.
15. EBI reduces IT Backlogs: Business integration is a large and growing percentage of IT backlogs in most companies. Application conversions and upgrades, new partner onboarding, business unit mergers and reorganizations, and other significant business events can increase backlogs precipitously. If you currently implement integration through coding or legacy point products, EBI can dramatically reduce that portion of your backlog, freeing IT resources to focus elsewhere.
16. EBI improves visibility of external and internal integration activities: EBI maintains a searchable and filterable log of all integration activities, inputs, and outputs, providing a customizable window on integration activity across your business, via the Auditor and Dashboard interfaces. This level of visibility and auditability cannot be matched by coded integration or point product integration approaches.
17. EBI reduces processing cost, errors, and latency: Most companies have manual business processes, not because humans are essential to them, but because they have always been implemented manually. In many businesses, manual processes are responsible for a high percentage of operational errors and delays that result in lost business, charge-backs, and customer dissatisfaction. By replacing manual processes with automated ones, EBI removes sources of error and latency, reduces processing costs, improves operational efficiency, enhances customer service, and frees personnel to manage exceptions that truly require human judgment.
18. EBI extends legacy application ROI: EBI can extend the useful lifetime of both commercial and in-house applications by establishing new connections to partners, data, and applications without modifying code. By enabling legacy applications to participate in new business processes in this way, EBI increases their value and enables you to avoid or defer costly customization, upgrading, and replacement.
19. EBI facilitates “best of breed” application strategies: For most companies, wholesale replacement of existing applications with comprehensive application suites is impractical. But the alternative – combining best-of-breed applications from different vendors, requires the ability to integrate applications with partners and with each other, without access to source code. EBI enables best-of-breed integration strategies, by using non-invasive techniques to create business processes that span applications, partners, and data resources from different sources.

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You can purchase EBI as a complete system – or as individual modules that you can add as your needs grow

The EBI product includes everything you need to create, test, deploy, execute, manage, and maintain business integration applications. All EBI components are installed and configured as part of a simple, automated installation process that takes only minutes. New EBI releases include automated upgrade processes to simplify migration to the latest version.

EXTOL Business Integrator is available as a complete product, to meet requirements that span multiple projects and integration styles (web or REST services, EDI, data integration, etc.), or as one of several, specialized subset modules. This is an excellent option when requirements are limited to a smaller project or a single integration style.

These subset products offer the simplicity and affordability of conventional point solutions – but unlike point solutions they share runtime services, modeling tools, integration deliverables, skills, and administration processes. The high degree of consistency across the EBI options greatly reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and ramp-up time as you add on more EBI options to support future projects.

Adding an option is as simple as obtaining a new license key that unlocks the new capabilities you need. So you can acquire just the integration capabilities you need for your initial project, then simply add capabilities as your needs evolve. You can even move up to the full EBI product while fully protecting your investments in software, integration deliverables, and skills.

EBI Data Integrator Options:

• EXTOL EDI Integrator Option (EBE) – a comprehensive, behind-the-firewall EDI integration solution that automates X12 and EDIFACT EDI integration with trading partners. EBE integrates internally using databases, flat files, XML, spreadsheets, APIs, and (optionally) web services, without coding.
• EXTOL Spreadsheet Integrator Option (EBS) – a syntax-limited subset of EXTOL Business Integrator that supports integration with partners and applications, by transforming spreadsheet data to or from XML, flat file, database, or (if EBE is licensed) EDI data.
• EXTOL Database Integrator Option (EBD) – a syntax-limited subset of EXTOL Business Integrator that supports integration with partners and applications, by transforming database data to or from XML, flat file, spreadsheet, or (if EBE is licensed) EDI data.
• EXTOL XML Integrator Option (EBX) – a syntax-limited subset of EXTOL Business Integrator that supports integration with partners and applications, by transforming XML data to or from spreadsheet, flat file, database, or (if EBE is licensed) EDI data
• EXTOL Flat File Integrator Option (EBF) – a syntax-limited subset of EXTOL Business Integrator that supports integration with partners and applications, by transforming flat file data to or from XML, spreadsheet, database, or (if EBE is licensed) EDI data.
• EXTOL Web Services Integration Option – (included with EBI), an add-on option for the EBI Data Integrator options (EBE, EBS, EBD, EBX, EBF), enables generation of web service Consumers and Providers that integrate with internal and external services and applications.

The following table summarizes the capabilities and features of EBI and the Data Integrator options:

In addition to the EBI base product and Data Integrator options, the following add-on products extend support for specific integration applications and communications requirements:

• EXTOL Enterprise Adapter for SAP - an interface kit that supports integration of EDI, XML, flat file, database, and spreadsheet data with SAP ERP.
• EXTOL Enterprise Adapter for Oracle – an interface kit that supports integration of EDI, XML, flat file, database, and spreadsheet data with Oracle eBusiness Suite.
• EXTOL Data Synchronizer – a global data synchronization (GDS) application for Suppliers and Distributors that supports end-to-end synchronization of item, location, and other data between enterprise applications and the 1SYNC data pool and GS1 global registry / GDSN.
• EXTOL Secure Exchange – a certified AS2-interoperable middleware server, used to send and receive EDI, XML, and other data securely over the Internet, using the standard AS2 protocol.
• EXTOL Portal – a highly reliable, Internet-based VAN service for transporting, monitoring, and managing business-to-business transactions. By using a single Internet connection to consolidate transaction delivery for multiple partners, it reduces the time and effort required to onboard new partners.

Note that integration with many other applications is supported directly by EBI, using standard file, web service, database, or messaging interfaces.  In addition, the Integration Pattern Repository, introduced with EBI v2.6, includes preloaded mapping history patterns for JD Edwards, Oracle EBS, SAP ERP, TMW IES (ICC), and TMW Suite. 

 

EXTOL Business Integrator frees you from concerns about future platform changes

EBI is implemented as a 100% pure Java application, with the exception of platform-specific installers and server managers.  The tables below show the main runtime and design-time system requirements for the EBI system:          

	EXTOL Business Integrator (Runtime)
Processor	64-bit processor. For optimum performance, EXTOL recommends a dedicated server.
Operating System	Windows, I OS, Linux *See Policy on Operating System Support for Java-Based Products for more details.
RAM	4 GB or greater
Disk space	Minimum 500 MB plus storage for user integration projects and related objects
Other	Minimum 1024 x 768 monitor resolution JDK 1.6 (included with product) JDBC driver v2.1 or higher for database adapters
	EXTOL Integration Studio (Design-time)
Processor	32-bit or 64-bit processor
Operating System	Windows, Linux *See Policy on Operating System Support for Java-Based Products for more details.
RAM	2 GB or greater
Disk space	Minimum 500 MB plus storage for user integration projects and related objects
Other	Minimum 1024 x 768 monitor resolution JDK 1.6 (included with product) JDBC driver v2.1 or higher for database adapters

The following additional requirements apply to installation of EBI on IBM i OS (i5/OS):

•  Java PTFs (levels & options vary by OS)      •  QShell Interpreter
•  PASE Environment                                           •  Developer Kit for Java
•  Java Developer Kit                                            •  J2SE 6.0 (32 bit)
•  Toolbox for Java                                                 •  iSeries Tools for Developers
• Crypto Access Provider 128-bit for AS/400

For IBM i OS installations, EXTOL provides the no-charge, automated EXTOL Readiness Suite, which analyzes your system configuration and identifies which of the PTFs and optional product features required for EBI operation are not currently installed on your system.