EAI概况(Technology Computer English)

What is EAI? （企业应用集成）
Enterprise Application Integration, or EAI, is the combination of
processes, software, standards, and hardware resulting in the seamless integration
of two or more enterprise systems allowing them to operate as one. Although
EAI is often associated with integrating systems within a business entity, EAI
may also refer to the integration of enterprise systems of disparate corporate
entities (B2Bi) when the goal is to permit a single business transaction to
occur across multiple systems.
Brief History of EAI
Enterprise applications, from as early as the 1960s through the
late 1970s, were simple in design and functionality, developed largely
in part to end repetitive tasks. "There was no thought whatsoever
given to the integration of corporate data. The entire objective was
to replicate manual procedures on the computer."
By the 1980s, several corporations were beginning to understand the
value and necessity for application integration. Challenges arose,
though, as many corporate IT staff members attempted to redesign
already implemented applications to make them appear as if they
were integrated. Examples include trying to perform operational transaction
processing (associated with enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system functionality) on systems designed for informational data
processing (data warehousing functionality).
As ERP applications became much more prevalent in the 1990s,
there was a need for corporations to be able to leverage already
existing applications and data within the ERP system; this could only
be done by introducing EAI. Frances Ren writes that the move towards
EAI was a logical one. "Companies once used client/server technology to
build departmental applications, but later realized the gains in linking
multiple business processes."Other issues driving the EAI market include the
further proliferation of packaged applications, applications that
addressed the potential problems of the Year 2000, supply chain
management/business-to-business (B2B) integration , streamlined
business processes, web application integration, and overall
technology advances within EAI development.
What is involved in EAI?
EAI is very involved and complex, and incorporates every level of an
enterprise system,its architecture, hardware, software and processes. As
defined by ITtoolbox, EAI involves integration at the following levels:
Business Process Integration (BPI): When integrating business processes,
a corporation must define, enable and manage the processes for the exchange
of enterprise information among diverse business systems. This allows
organizations to streamline operations, reduce costs and improve responsiveness
to customer demands.Elements here include process management, process
modeling, and workflow, which involves the combination of tasks, procedures,
organizations, required input and output information, and tools needed for
什么是EAI
企业应用集成或E A I ，是程序、软件、标准和硬件的结
合，它可以将两个或更多的企业系统无缝地整合，并使其正常
运行，尽管E A I 经常与一个商业实体内部的集成系统相关联，
但当目标是允许一个单一的商业交易通过多个系统发生，E A I
也可认为是完全不同公司实体的企业系统的集成。
EAI的简单历史
企业应用，最早是从6 0 年代开始直到7 0 年代后期，在设计
和功能非常简单，主要大部分发展了停止重复性的任务这个功
能。“当时对公司的数据整合没有给预任何考虑，整个目的在
计算机上复制手工程序” 。
到了8 0 年代，一些公司开始了解到应用集成的价值和必要
性。由于竞争的出现，许多I T 人员尝试重新设计已经生成的应
用程序，使它看起来已被集成过。例如尝试在为信息数据处理
（数据仓库功能）设计的系统上执行操作交易处理（与企业资
源计划系统功能相联系） 。
由于在9 0 年代E R P应用变得更加流行普遍，许多公司需要
能够支持在E R P 系统内已存在的应用程序和数据，满足这种需
求的唯一办法是对E A I的引入。F r a n c e s R e n 在文章中提到向
E A I 方向前进是符合逻辑的一步。“曾经有许多公司用客户/
服务器技术建造部门级应用程序，但后来认识到连接多种商业
程序所带来的利益。”其它推动E A I 市场的因素包括打包应用
程序的进一步发展、旨在解决千年虫问题的应用程序、供应链
管理/ （B 2 B ）整合，高效率的商业流通渠道程序，网络应用
集成程序以及E A I 环境中整体技术优势。
EAI涉及哪些方面？
E A I 涉及很广，十分复杂，它具体表现为一个企业系统的
每一层，包括它的结构、硬件、软件和程序等。根据I T T O O L
BOX 给E A I下的定义，E A I包含的因素集中于以下几层：
商业程序集成（B P I ）：当集成商业程序时，公司必须定
义、授权并管理在多种多样的商业系统中的企业信息交换。这
将允许机构进行高效率运作，减少成本并提高客户需求响应。
其组成部分包括程序管理、程序造型和工作流程，其中涉及任
务、步骤、组织、必需的输入及输出信息的合并，以及在商业
流程每一步所需要的工具。

 each step in a business process.
Application Integration: At this level of integration, the goal is to bring
data or a function from one application together with that of another application
that together provide near real-time integration.Application Integration is
used for, to name a few, B2B integration, implementing customer relationship
management (CRM) systems that are integrated with a company's backend
applications, web integration, and building Web sites that leverage multiple
business systems. Custom integration development may also be necessary,
particularly when integrating a legacy application with a newly implemented
ERP application.
Data Integration: In order for both Application Integration and Business
Process Integration to succeed, the integration of data and database systems
must be tackled. Prior to integration, data must be identified (where it is
located), cataloged, and a metadata model must be built (a master guide for
various data stores). Once these three steps are finished, data can then be
shared/distributed across database systems.
Standards of Integration: In order to achieve full Data Integration,
standard formats for the data must be selected. Standards of Integration are
those that promote the sharing and distribution of information and business
dataL¬that are at the core of Enterprise Application Integration. These
include COM+/DCOM, CORBA, EDI, JavaRMI, and XML.
Platform Integration: To complete the system integration, the underlying
architecture, software and hardware, the separate needs of the heterogeneous
network must be integrated. Platform Integration deals with the processes
and tools that are required to allow these systems to communicate, both
optimally and securely, so data can be passed through different applications
without difficulty. For example, figuring out a way for an NT machine to pass
information reliably to a UNIX machine is a large task for integrating an
entire corporate system.
Market Leaders
Because of the breadth and diversity of the EAI market, several
software companies offer products that are integral to some aspect of
application integration, but may not offer a comprehensive solution.
Examples of EAI market leaders include: BEA Systems, CrossWorlds
Software, IONA Technologies, Level 8 Systems, Mercator Software,
NEON (purchased in 2001 by Sybase), SeeBeyond, Software AG,
TIBCO, Vitria Technology, and webMethods.
Market leading large system integration firms include IBM Global
Services, Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers, CSC, and EDS.
The Future of EAI
IDC Research expects the EAI services market to become the most
important and fastest- growing IT sector in the next three to five years.
According to IDC research, "worldwide revenues in this market will jump
from $5 billion in 2000 to nearly $21 billion in 2005. This increase represents
a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 30%. By comparison,
the corresponding opportunity of the overall IT services industry will increase
at a CAGR of 11% during the same period."IDC also reports that North
America and Western Europe will generate more than 90% of the demand for
global EAI services through 2005, with Japan and Latin America driving the
remainder of this service demand. Issues that may inhibit the growth of EAI
include, "cost of services, human issues regarding EAI engagements, and
business-to-business integration challenges."
（应用程序整合：这一阶段的整合，目的是链接两个应用
系统，在一个应用系统上能导出另一个应用系统的数据或功能
提供接转即时的集成化。）应用集成用于B 2 B 集成，实现与公
司的客户关系管理（C R M）系统后台应用程序相整合、W e b 集
成以及建立支持多种商业系统的W e b 站点。客户集成开发可能
也是必要的，特别是在一个原有的应用程序与最新集成的E R P
系统相整合时。
数据整合：为了实现应用程序整合和商业流程整合，必须解
决数据和数据库系统的集成。在整合之前，必须识别出数据的位
置和种类，而且必须建立起元数据模型（各种数据存储方式的主
导），一旦完成这三个步骤，那么，数据就可以通过数据库系统
进行共享/ 分配。
整合的标准：为了实现全部的数据整合，必须选择一种标
准的数据格式。整合的标准是其需促进信息和商业数据的共享
和分配，这也是EAI的核心。这些包括COMT/DCOM CORBA,
EDI,JAVA RMI和XML。
平台整合：为完成系统，必须根本结构、软件及硬件以及
对不同种类网络的需求。平台必须允许这些系统相互沟通所需
要的流程和工具做最适宜、最稳定的处理。因此数据可以毫无
困难地通过不同的应用程序。比如寻求一种将N T 系统机器中
的信息可靠地传送到一个U N I X 系统机器的方法，对于整个公
司系统整合来说，一种将N T 系统机器可靠地传递到一个U N I X 系
统机器的方法是对于整个公司系统数据中一个相当大的难题。
市场主导者：
因为E A I 市场的广度和差异，一些软件公司提供了在应用集成
的某些方面完整的产品，但是没有提供综合的解决方案。目前E A I
市场主导者包括： BEA System公司、CrossWorlds软件公司、IONA
Technologies 公司， Level 8 System公司、 NEON公司（2001年被
Sybase收购）、SeeBeyond公司、Software AG公司、TIBCO公司、
Vitria Technology公司以及 webMethods公司等。
市场上大型系统集成的主导力量包括IBM、A c c e n t u r e 公司、
PricewaterhouseCoopers公司、CSC公司和EDS公司。
EAI的未来
IDC研究所预计在未来的3 - 5年内，E A I服务市场将变成I T
领域里最重要和发展最快的部分。I D C 调查报告显示，全球该
市场的年收入将超过30%的，从2 0 0 0 年的5 亿美金跃升到2 0 0 5 年
近2 1 亿美金。这个增长表明强大的混合年度增长率C A G R ）。
相比之下，同时期内全球I T 服务产业的年度增长率（C A G R ）
将是1 1 ％。I D C 报告还指出，北美和西欧将产生2 0 0 5 年全球对
E A I 服务需求的9 0 ％，日本和拉美将推动此项服务剩余的需
求。将会对E A I 发展起到抑制作用的因素包括：服务成本、从
事E A I相关职业的人员因素以及B 2 B 的挑战。