Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
As seen in the following diagram, when applications are connected using middle-
ware, they appear as providers of functionality. This functionality is then orchestrated
into an end-to-end business process by the middleware connecting these applica-
tions. The technology stack is now much more closely aligned with the business pro-
cess than it has ever been in the past.
Middleware and SOA approaches allowed the orchestration of processes that
spanned multiple applications. The large ERP applications that had appeared
"monolithic" up to this point now resembled the silos of functionality. ERP systems
started to appear restrictive as they were limited in their flexibility, but continued to
be the primary storage of institutional data.
The immense flexibility provided by SOA (enabled by middleware) stood in stark con-
trast to the restrictions imposed by "big-box" ERP software.
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