Software AG’s webMethods Integration Cloud: bridging old and new

The webMethods brand has a B2B integration heritage going back over 20 years. Software AG’s webMethods Integration Cloud is built on webMethods’ initial foundations, and is a key part of Software AG’s broader integration portfolio. Integration Cloud is noteworthy because of the real consideration that’s been taken regarding design lifecycle and change management.

Top takeaways

The next frontier for a long-time integration specialist

Prior to its acquisition by Software AG in 2007, webMethods was initially founded as an independent B2B integration technology specialist, and Software AG has worked to retain the currency of its portfolio in the intervening years. The release of Integration Cloud in 2014 was therefore a completely necessary step – and in doing that, the company has started to explore some of the self-service integration needs and interests of non-specialists.

The two faces of Integration Cloud

webMethods Integration Cloud provides easy-to-use design tools to help relatively non-technical staff specify and configure integration pipelines that synchronise data and trigger actions between cloud applications and platforms and on-premises resources – but it has another side, too.

This becomes apparent in the Container Edition of the service. Here, you get a bundle of tools and capabilities designed to make it straightforward for you to ‘lift-and-shift’ prior investments – in other words, to migrate your existing on-premise webMethods Integration Server integration pipelines to Integration Cloud.

Explore Integration Cloud, particularly if you’re a webMethods customer refreshing your integration strategy

Software AG’s webMethods Integration Cloud is one element of a much larger integration tools portfolio. Integration Cloud is noteworthy because of the real consideration that’s been taken regarding design lifecycle and change management, and as a hybrid integration platform it’s worthy of consideration. This is particularly true if you’re already a Software AG webMethods customer and have a growing need to embrace new cloud services and applications, while also opening up integration tools and capabilities so they’re accessible beyond your traditional IT professional user base.

webMethods: from EAI to self-service integration

An integration specialist since the days of EAI

webMethods started life as an independent specialist integration software provider, focused specifically on B2B integration, in 1996. Its acquisition by Software AG in 2007 gave Software AG a strong integration technology offering, and the Integration Server initially developed by webMethods remains at the heart of Software AG’s integration story today.

webMethods designed its Integration Server technology from the outset to operate flexibly in a multi-party environment, with the ability to federate integration processing across distributed collections of server instances using a variety of connection security protocols.

Tracing the evolution of integration with Integration Cloud

Software AG’s webMethods Integration Cloud was launched in 2014, and is built on the same Integration Server technology the company offers customers today for on-premises installation – though new, much easier-to-use, integration development tools are now front-and-centre in the offering.

The webMethods Integration Cloud is pitched very much as a natural extension of the broader webMethods integration portfolio, to be deployed alongside other elements rather than being seen as a separate proposition. In a ‘hybrid integration’ deployment, where Integration Cloud connects with one or more of your on-premise applications as well as one or more SaaS properties, you’ll use Integration Server to enable that cloud-to-ground connection; and indeed, to date, Software AG has promoted webMethods Integration Cloud principally to its existing webMethods Integration Server customer base – although this is starting to change, as Software AG begins to promote Integration Cloud to medium- and large-sized organisations outside this base in North America and Europe.

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