Larger companies can typically invest significant resources to connect and integrate their internal and external software applications and databases. Smaller companies, on the other hand, often can’t afford the IT resources required to knit together all their systems. Yet this kind of integration is crucial for them to remain competitive.
Enter BRIDGEWERX, which offers the first turnkey, hosted integration solution packaged and priced for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), giving them the efficiency and productivity improvements previously affordable only to Fortune 500 companies.
The BRIDGEWERX Integration Appliance drives this cost-effective solution. An all-in-one rack-mounted Dell server running Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003, BizTalk® Server, and SQL Server™, it securely runs onsite at the customer’s location. Integration Appliance functions like any other device on the network, seamlessly tying into a company’s IT infrastructure, and it provides fast, simple, and secure integration with a service-oriented architecture (SOA). The cost is as much as 85% less than other methods of connecting internal systems with applications and service providers.
“With Microsoft technologies, we saw a great opportunity to provide integration as a service,” says BRIDGEWERX President and CEO David Linthicum, an internationally known application integration expert who applied his 20 years of experience in founding BRIDGEWERX. “With our solutions, customers don’t need to create their own ‘homebrewed’ solutions. They can use proven technologies right out of the box, along with our hosted design and management offerings, at a price that is much lower than if they bought all these technologies off the shelf.”
.NET Technologies Enable BRIDGEWERX Integration Solutions
BRIDGEWERX leverages Microsoft .NET technologies throughout its product offerings—from the Integration Designer, which is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application delivered over the Web, to the “software factory” that creates the integration package, to the final solution that runs on the BRIDGEWERX appliance.
The BRIDGEWERX Integration Designer is a simple, dependable integration tool that helps customers design, generate, deploy, and extend their integration projects through an easy visual modeling interface, without having to write any code.
Companies start by identifying the internal and external applications, databases, and services they want to integrate, and then they apply the schemas and adapters necessary to connect them. Mapping templates are available for defining the connections; companies can also create their own visual map that outlines how these elements will interact. The design tool allows the user to define how data will be transformed and provides validation and testing of sample data. The user can then define the business rules that govern the integration by using a simple wizard to set rules governing whether certain data will trigger alarms or which transactions will be sent for approval. Once this process is complete, the BRIDGEWERX “software factory” generates the required integration package, which customers install on their BRIDGEWERX appliance.
BRIDGEWERX custom design and management tools are built on the foundation of BizTalk Server, the Microsoft business process management technology that enables organizations to automate and optimize their business processes. A wide range of application and technology adapters for BizTalk are available from Microsoft and a number of third parties to help customers connect and integrate legacy systems (such as mainframes) as well as modern line-of-business applications from Microsoft and vendors such as SAP, Salesforce.com, and JD Edwards. Customers can also have BRIDGEWERX developers create customized adapters to satisfy their unique business needs.
The nature of business ensures that systems and processes will constantly change, so integration is a journey, not a destination. BRIDGEWERX retains a repository of customers’ integration specifications and a growing library of “jump-start” templates for various applications. Because the BRIDGEWERX Integration Designer is a SaaS solution, any updates or new offerings are immediately available to customers. On the appliance, BRIDGEWERX also provides a powerful management interface, allowing customers to securely configure, monitor, and manage their running integrations.
Benefits for Both Smaller and Larger Enterprises
One customer that uses BRIDGEWERX integration is Enerplus Resources Fund, a large oil and gas fund with more than CDN$7 billion invested in a network of natural resource assets in Canada and the United States. Enerplus chose BRIDGEWERX technology to help integrate the electronic invoice services of one of its companies with others in its portfolio.
“The BRIDGWERX system provides the integration we need to connect our service providers inexpensively, effectively, and quickly,” says Doug Berscht, Enerplus team lead for architecture and application development. “BRIDGEWERX enables us to make use of the same Web services as enterprises with much larger integration applications, but at a much lower price.”
BRIDGEWERX is also helping smaller organizations such as the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), which is using the solution to connect its financial applications with customer management tools and other processes. “BRIDGEWERX saved us a great deal of time on ramping up our internal resources and really simplified the whole integration process for us,” says Peter Kehler, SAIT’s Director of Information Services.
BRIDGEWERX cites the strength and affordability of Microsoft software as the key to its ability to offer such rich, low-cost offerings. Says CEO Linthicum: “From the familiar and dependable technology stack that runs our appliances to the developer tools that help our people be more productive, Microsoft not only enables us to build a successful business, but it also helps us help our customers get far more value out of their limited IT budgets.”
To find out more about Microsoft’s affordable platform licensing options for Software-as-a-Service companies, go to www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/licensing
To find out more about Microsoft’s Emerging Business Team and the Microsoft Partner programs available for startups, go to www.MicrosoftStartupZone.com
Disclaimer (specific to BRIDGEWERX CASE STUDY):
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, BizTalk, SQL Server, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Document published September 2006.
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