Interoperability of a Windows server
Interoperability is the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged.
A white paper by ObjectWatch, titled "Interoperability Through Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs)," provides a set of criteria for evaluating SOA technologies. It includes the author's interviews with companies that are successfully building SOAs, as well as lessons learned that are applicable to any company interested in leveraging SOAs on Windows servers.
The service-oriented architecture approach to interoperability delivers excellent scalability, better ability to leverage existing systems and applications, lower IT costs and improved user productivity. Microsoft SOA technologies are a strong choice because:
- Microsoft developed most web service standards, such as SOAP.
- Microsoft offers excellent developer tools with deeply integrated support for web services.
- Microsoft has a compelling cost/value proposition.
A study by Jupiter Research shows that 72% of users give the Microsoft platform top interoperability marks. Interoperability is one of the key issues facing IT organisations. Service-oriented architectures (SOAs) based on web service standards have emerged as the leading industry wide enabler for interoperability on Windows servers.
Companies that are embracing SOAs are finding huge expected benefits, such as:
- Increased revenue opportunities through collaboration
- Improved decision making through shared data
- Decreased personnel costs through automated workflow
As well as some unexpected benefits, such as:
- Dramatic improvements in system reliability
- Huge reductions in development and deployment costs
- Migration of systems from expensive mainframe to inexpensive server clusters
- Impressive improvements in time to market
The specific Microsoft strengths that emerge from ObjectWatch's evaluation are the following:
- Low cost of acquisition
- Tight integration of web service standards into the programming tools
- A strong collection of enterprise back-end technologies
- Excellent support for Windows server interoperability with legacy systems
Conclusions
It is clear that companies that are embracing service-oriented architectures (SOAs) are reaping the rewards. Some of the payoff is expected, such as system to system interoperability. Some of the payoff is unexpected, such as dramatic improvements in reliability.
It is also clear that Microsoft is an industry leader in service-oriented architectures, not only in the web service standards that define interoperability, but in the back-end support technologies that make up the overall SOA infrastructure. These include SQL Server, BizTalk, and HIS, among many others.
Call today on 0800 458 4545 for advanced interoperability on Windows server, or request more information online.
