The ESB--Finished Already?

Check out this article on Loosely Coupled.

Phil Wainewright makes an interesting case for why the ESB is an idea that, while new and exciting, might not last forever.

His main point is that the good points of an ESB--extreme loose coupling, standard XML support, message oriented middleware--are hurt by the reliance on yet another large software package an enterprise must install and maintain. The concept he talks about in this latest installment on his weblog is that products like the new Blue Titan Network Director RM will have longer staying power because they bring reliable message-oriented middleware using industry standard Web Services standards. The ESB products all use a proprietary (though sometimes JMS-based) message queing backbone.



Interesting point. I recently made a presentation to a potential client on this topic, and suggested that we spend a bit of time analyzing their business and the needs for a reliable message oriented backbone for their integration needs. They're a mostly-Microsoft shop, but occasionaly do use products from IBM and the like. My initial impressions had been that a good ESB concept was called for, but I was still unsure about using Microsoft's or Sonic's or IBM's products.

This new idea essentially says this--build your backbone on Web Services and the WS-ReliableMessaging standard, and use a product like Blue Titan to manage the entire SOA infrastructure.

Interesting stuff. Definitely the way things are moving, regardless of whether we call it an ESB or a WS-based message based middleware (WSMOM?).