XAware Updates Integration Software

Published: February 13, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Companies that use XAware's software to link business applications into a service oriented architecture (SOA) will find it easier using a more mature release of XA-Suite, which was recently announced by the Colorado company.

XA-Suite was developed to simplify the reuse of existing business logic and data in new SOA applications. Instead of writing one-off integration points from scratch in Java or another language, XA-Suite users take a configuration-driven approach, highlighted by its use of "executable XML," which improves reproduction and better return on investment, the company says.

The Java-based XA-Suite is composed of the XA-Designer development environment, the XA-iServer runtime engine, and various adapters (for inputting from data sources) and connectors (for outputting to different formats). The iSeries has been certified as a target and a source since version 4.2, which we covered in September.

With version 4.3, XAware has enhanced the XA-Designer component with new graphical views and drag-and-drop capabilities, which allows users to configure and reuse business components more quickly than before, the company says. The Designer also features a new BizDocument generator that produces executable XML documents directly from XML schemas, preserving schema-based metadata, the company says.

A new process view has also been added to give users a read-only, graphical view of XAware applications. This view is modeled after UML activity diagrams and emphasizes relationships between components and the logic they contain, the company says. Also, debugging new integration flows is easier thanks to the new XA-Tracer component, which allows the user to step through the application and observe the application flow as it is processed, the company says.

XA-Suite version 4.3 is available now. The pricing begins at $25,000. Potential customers can also download a free trial from XAware's Web site, at www.xaware.com.

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