Data Integration Blog -

In many respects I’ve been using this blog as a place to showcase integration concepts and approaches that should prove valuable to those who make data integration work within enterprises.  So, I was more than happy to approach the topic of the integration community’s value.

Indeed, one of the more innovative concepts in the data integration space is around the ability to create both a community and a marketplace;  or, a place where those who work on data integration projects can exchange both ideas and solutions.  Pervasive saw that light and released just such a solution to those who work with data integration problems within their enterprise.

This is something that’s always been in the back of my mind.  Back in the EAI days of the late 90s, I often considered the value of sharing integration solutions between end users, such as data mappings, connectors, even approaches.  However, the concept of sharing solutions was a bit far-fetched and it continued to be just a ‘good idea’ that had yet to find a sponsor and mechanism.

The value is obvious.  So many aspects of data integration have been reinventing the wheel, over and over again.  In the past I spent a lot of time putting companies together so they could collaborate on data integration issues.  However, these were random encounters with no centralized platforms for sharing.  In fact, I was often asked if there was one place where those charged with integration could go to find information and share solutions.  My response was always, “None that I know of.”

Thus, I was very impressed with the release of Pervasive Galaxy.  This data integration community, simply put, provides a combination of services, marketplace, idea sharing, and even a way to make some money by providing a store to sell solutions.  These solutions could be connectors, plug-ins, and templates, anything that could get you further down the road with your data integration project.  Moreover, perhaps you could leverage Galaxy to work with others on an existing project, or even community project builds.

The real value of Galaxy is the ability to provide a place for independent software vendors (ISVs) and SaaS vendors, systems integrators, and end users to share solutions and make some money at the same time.  Additionally, Pervasive Galaxy simplifies the vendor evaluation process, and speeds time to finding a data integration solution while containing costs through business-to-consumer reverse auctions, marketplaces, and crowd-sourced events.

While the app-store concept is getting a lot of play these days, it’s important to remember that the information sharing aspect of Galaxy is just as valuable.  For example, an enterprise software provider who needs to provide integration services and technology with an emerging SaaS player can leverage Galaxy to create a data integration solution, and Galaxy provides a place to sell and deploy this solution, as well as support their users.

As a service provider and integrator, you’ll be able to find new customers, and support existing customers.  Perhaps you’ll provide a place to define and deploy methods for data integration as well as supporting technology.  Also, this means you have the ability to provide further monetization, meaning you can get rich as well as influence friends using this platform.

Finally, end users might find that they can share data integration solutions, such as connectors and templates, and thus deploy these solutions for a fraction of the cost and time.  This crowd-sourcing aspect of Galaxy provides real power, considering that innovation is pushed from a group of data integration users who have a much better understanding of the problem domain.  Thus, we no longer have to rely on general-purpose information, but can find things related specifically to what we’re working on.

Like any marketplace or community it will take some time for existing users, consultants, cloud players, and ISVs to find it and leverage it.  However, if you’re in the data integration space, this should be at least a weekly destination.  The value will grow out of the solution content that it collects over time, but I suspect that tipping point will be reached very soon, therefore I would recommend that you get onboard now.

The Web has provided the first tier of information sharing for some time now, meaning the ability to get new content as needed.  We also have the ability to share and purchase content, such as downloading books to readers.  Also, we’ve recently moved into the notion of app stores to find tactical solutions to enrich our lives.  Now, we have the ability to share real solutions around the best practices and best solutions in the data integration space.