Java is still the best platform for business integration

I’ve seen companies struggle with multitude of databases and applications not talking to each other, having redundant data and not necessarily in the same format. Trying to update customer information might require five separate manual entries in different applications. Sounds familiar? Well, most companies accumulate technology over the years without realizing that it’s going to get them sooner or later. Those who realize maybe don’t have the expertise or the budget to do the things right.

Business and IT executives start acting when it’s almost too late. They have a legacy RPG AS/400 application handling their warehousing and distribution, a Microsoft VB/SQL Server application for managing customer relationships, and a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP) based e-commerce website… You get the point.

Some ask the question: What is the best technology platform for integrating various disconnected systems into a coherent and manageable solution? I think most of us will agree that Java is the way to go. Java will let us read from any database, run on any operating system, support both back office and web solutions. Java has the best messaging middleware and web services support from open source community and commercial vendors. We are not locked into any application server with Java. There are more open source frameworks and business products written in Java then in any other programming language. It’s been proven time and again that Java has better performance then most other popular platforms. And if that is not enough, Java is the most commonly used programming language and the most requested expertise on job sites.

For those doubting business and IT executives out there, don’t hesitate. Java has proven itself. This is not 1998, it’s 2007.

-Igor