What is Java® Business Integration?

Java® Business Integration (JBI) is a venture initiated by the Java® Community Process (JCP), under the company of Sun Microsystems. The project defines how the technology of online plug-ins can facilitate service-oriented architecture software. With JBI, Sun Microsystems aims for integration technology to be standardized, starting with collaborations with the computer industry. The company is also planning to develop a product family out of JBI.

In March 2003, Sun Microsystems presented the technology of Java® Business Integration to JCP. There were also other enterprises that teamed up for the project, and were called “Expert Group” vendors. The 24 vendors included IBM, Novell, and Sonic Software.

One popular feature of the Java® Business Integration is the Normalized Message Service (NMS), which is used as a communication tool. The NMS can receive and send messages through different Message Exchange Patterns (MEP): in-only, robust in-only, in-out, and in optional-out. In-only allows a user to receive status messages, while robust in-only allows one round of exchange that ends when a status message is received. The in-out provides a mutual exchange between a client and a provider, while the in optional-out allows one user the choice to respond to the message or ignore it.

The Java® Business Integration also includes many tools, such as the System Monitoring and System Management Tools, Business Analysis and Business Activity Monitoring Tools, and Software Development Tools. The JBI is flexible and can conform to the system in which the plug-ins are contained. Its flexibility also means that the service engine can be translated into different languages.

Another advantage of the Java® Business Integration is the open interfaces, which is “open,” so to speak, to improvement by the public. In this way, the integration project is marketed towards system software developers who have the capacity to change the interface according to their needs or interests. These changes can be published publicly, which gives customers the advantage to choose among the solutions that suit them. Available open-source software in the integration includes Apache™ ServiceMix, Open ESB, and FUSE ESB.

The Java® Business Integration also allows new service engines to be plugged in to container, provided that a command is encoded to help the system detect it. These mentioned integrations minimize an enterprise’s cost of time and money, since all actions within the system can be automated. Business partners can also have the convenience of having all their existing and gathered information combined in one integration technology, making for an efficient collaboration.