Terminology

IT integration terminology

Below, you can find a declarative list of the most common IT itegration terminology.

XML

XML, eXtensible Markup Language, started in 1996 and was taken over by the World Wide Consortium (www.w3c.org) in 1998. W3C also developed HTML and http.

XML enables you to describe documents containing structured information on content and indications on meaning of the content. It concerns spreadsheets, technical drawings or financial transactions.
An XML file consists of text, understandable for everyone. As with HTML, XML uses 'tags' (e.g. <form>) and matching attributes (e.g. <form name="application">. With HTML the tags and their meanings are fixed. This is aspect is different with XML: tags are only used to restrict pieces of data, the meaning of the tags and their attributes can be defined entirely by the programmer.

Advantages of XML

XML is extendable, platform independent and it is completely Unicode-compatible.
Because XML is a format based on text, the XML documents can be read and adapted with a plain word processor.
XML is not tied to a certain programmed language, an operating system or software producer.
Thanks to the platform independent character of XML, it is a useful tool to achieve the compatibility between different program platforms and operating systems.

SOA

There is no widely-agreed upon definition of Service-oriented architecture other than its literal translation that it is an architecture that relies on service-orientation as its fundamental design principle. Service-orientation describes an architecture that uses loosely coupled services to support the requirements of business processes and users. Resources on a network in an SOA environment are made available as independent services that can be accessed without knowledge of their underlying platform implementation. These concepts can be applied to business, software and other types of producer/consumer systems.

Advantages of SOA

Eliminate information silos,
Improve IT and business agility,
Achieve application integration more easily, and
Use existing technology investments more efficiently.

ESB

In computing, an enterprise service bus (ESB) refers to a software architecture construct, implemented by technologies found in a category of middleware infrastructure products usually based on standards, that provides foundational services for more complex architectures via an event-driven and standards-based messaging engine (the bus).

An ESB generally provides an abstraction layer on top of an implementation of an enterprise messaging system which allows integration architects to exploit the value of messaging without writing code. Contrary to the more classical enterprise application integration (EAI) approach of a monolithic stack in a hub and spoke architecture, the foundation of an enterprise service bus is built of base functions broken up into their constituent parts, with distributed deployment where needed, working in harmony as necessary.

Advantages of ESB

full integration with all business processes
reliable: ESB uses MOM (Message Oriented Middleware), with a result that a message is always delivered with the application it is destined for. When an application is temporary unavailable, the message will be saved and delivered afterwards.
Because ESB is based on open standards, services can be re-used and bought. This has a huge effect on the 'time to market' and costs of new applications.

EAI

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is defined as the uses of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.
In today’s competitive and dynamic business environment, applications such as Supply Chain Management, Customer Relationship Management, Business Intelligence and Integrated Collaboration environments have become imperative for organizations that need to maintain their competitive advantage. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is the process of linking these applications and others in order to realize financial and operational competitive advantages.

Advantages of EAI

Real time information access among systems
Streamlines business processes and helps raise organizational efficiency.
Maintains information integrity across multiple systems

Open Source

In general, open source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit. (Historically, the makers of proprietary software have generally not made source code available.) Open source software is usually developed as a public collaboration and made freely available.

Advantages of open source

the user is no longer dependent on the success of the software supplier
the user can develop further on the purchased software
the user can profit of the successful development of former co-users

Open Standards

Open standards are internationally accepted protocols (technical specifications) which guarantees the interchangeability of the data between and with other ICT-systems. An open standard has following characteristics:

the standards are determined based on an open decision procedure
the standards are published
the usage costs are low

Without such a protocol no one knows how others deliver information of what the delivered or requested information contains.

Advantages of open standards:

increase and improvement of information management and usage.
More adjustable to the desires of the user. The openness of the code makes it possible to adjust the software to existing systems, tools, platforms, databases et cetera.

EDI

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a set of standards for structuring information to be electronically exchanged between and within businesses, organizations, government entities and other groups. The standards describe structures that emulate documents, for example purchase orders to automate purchasing. The term EDI is also used to refer to the implementation and operation of systems and processes for creating, transmitting, and receiving EDI documents.
Despite being relatively unheralded, in this era of technologies such as XML services, the Internet and the World Wide Web, EDI is still the data format used by the vast majority of electronic commerce transactions in the world.

Advantages of EDI

time consuming manual input of data becomes superfluous
On each given time, day or night, you can send and receive messages. The data you send or receive is processed automatically
mistakes occur less with a result of decreasing costs of restoring.
the lead-time is considerably shortened because data only needs to be put in ones. Your customers and your own company can adopt data, sent electronically, directly in their own computer system. This way, you can reuse the data you entered in an order to draft an invoice.

e-Invoicing

e-invoicing is the electronic processing of the invoices.

Advantages of e-invoicing

Time saving
cost saving
Minimum IT-investments
Higher ROI of existing applications
Better customer service

e-Government

E-government is the policy of the government where it encourages citizens and companies to communicate with the government via their computer and the internet. This way, anyone can receive information and execute some actions like application requests and online registering.

WSDL

WSDL (Web Services Description Language) is an XML-based language for describing Web services and how to access them.

UDDI

Universal Description Discovery and Integration (UDDI) is a platform-independent, XML-based registry for businesses worldwide to list themselves on the Internet. UDDI is an open industry initiative, sponsored by OASIS, enabling businesses to publish service listings and discover each other and define how the services or software applications interact over the Internet. A UDDI business registration consists of three components:

White Pages — address, contact, and known identifiers;
Yellow Pages — industrial categorizations based on standard taxonomies;
Green Pages — technical information about services exposed by the business.

Open Office XML

Office Open XML (OOXML) is a standard file format for Office-documents, which is developed by Microsoft and ECMA to use in Microsoft office 2007.
the OOXML-format is designed in a way that old Office-documents, with binary format can easily be converted to the OOXML format. The format uses a ZIP-file containing XML document, where the information and presentation of the information is saved. Thanks to the ZIP-compression, the resulted files are, despite the use of XML, significantly smaller than the old binary Office-files.

ODF

The OpenDocument-format (ODF) is an open standard used to save and/or delete text files, excel sheets, graphics and presentations. The ODF standard was developed by the OASIS-consortium with the concept of XML-based grouping of OpenOffice.org

FTP

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a protocol that facilitates the exchange of files between computers. It standardizes those things that often differ between operating systems.

HTTP

HTTP of Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is a protocol that allows web browsers to communicate with a web server and to consult a website. The browser sends HTTP-tasks to the server, which resends the requested file.

HTTPS

HTTPS is an extension on the HTTP-protocol with the purpose to ensure save data exchange. With HTTPS, data is encrypted in such a way it is impossible for an outsider, e.g. someone who is eavesdropping, to know what data is being sent.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the standard for the e-mail correspondence over the internet.

SMTP is a relatively easy, text based protocol: first, one or more receivers of the e-mail are given, afterwards the text of the message is sent.

To send an e-mail, the SMTP of the internet provider in your e-mail program (e.g. outlook) needs to be entered.

Some examples:

Skynet: relay.skynet.be
telenet: uit.telenet.be
tiscali: smtp.tiscali.be

XBRL

XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language. It is one of a family of "XML" languages which is becoming a standard means of communicating information between businesses and on the internet.

XBRL is a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data which is revolutionizing business reporting around the world. It provides major benefits in the preparation, analysis and communication of business information. It offers cost savings, greater efficiency and improved accuracy and reliability to all those involved in supplying or using financial data.

XSLT

XSLT(eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation) is software that converts an XML document into another format such as HTML, PDF or text. It may also be used to convert one XML document to another XML document with a different set of XML tags (different schema).

TCP/IP

TCP/IP, short for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, the suite of communications protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet. TCP/IP uses several protocols, the two main ones being TCP and IP. TCP/IP is built into the UNIX operating system and is used by the Internet, making it the de facto standard for transmitting data over networks. Even network operating systems that have their own protocols, such as Netware, also support TCP/IP.

MQ

Websphere MQ, formerly known as MQ (message queue) series, is an IBM standard for program-to-program messaging across multiple platforms. Websphere MQ is sometimes referred to as message-oriented middleware (MOM).

Middleware

Middleware is computer software that connects software components or applications. It is used most often to support complex, distributed applications. It includes web servers, application servers, content management systems, and similar tools that support application development and delivery. Middleware is especially integral to modern information technology based on XML, SOAP, Web services, and service-oriented architecture.

J2EE

Short for Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition. J2EE is a platform-independent, Java-centric environment from Sun for developing, building and deploying Web-based enterprise applications online. The J2EE platform consists of a set of services, APIs, and protocols that provide the functionality for developing multitier, Web-based applications.

JMS

(Java Messaging Service) A programming interface (API) from Sun for connecting Java programs to messaging middleware such as IBM's MQSeries and TIBCO's Rendezvous. JMS is part of Sun's J2EE platform.

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