New Sun One Portal Server Targets SMBs

Introduced under its old brand, iPlanet, the new release contains native support for the Java Connector Architecture (JCA), a specification required in J2EE 1.3 that uses Java and XML to connect middleware with legacy systems, said Adam Abramski, Sun's product marketing manager for portal services.

Abramski said Sun designed the portal's JCA support so solution providers can use any legacy-systems connector to integrate to the portal as long as it is compatible with the JCA spec.

Boulder, Colo.-based Navidec, a Sun systems integrator partner and Authorized Java Center, is using JCA support in the Sun ONE Portal to make it easier for smaller customers to integrate legacy systems with Web technology, said David McDaniel, principal architect at Navidec.

"The JCA in general takes away the burden of layering all these ERP systems' proprietary integration languages and gives you a common XML interface into all these systems," McDaniel said.

McDaniel said the advantage of integrating directly with the portal,skipping the usual middle layer that contains the application server and integration server,is cost savings to the customer, which makes it easier for smaller companies that can't afford often-costly J2EE infrastructure to use Java for this purpose.

"You realize the cost savings in not having to use the whole infrastructure," McDaniel said.

Another advantage of using the JCA within the portal to integrate with ERP systems is that it streamlines business processes within an organization so the people calling the shots in the business can access important data more easily without the help of IT staff, said David Chao, Navidec's vice president of sales and marketing.

"Now, with XML and the way JCA works on this, once you have defined your business process, the businesspeople get to drive the business," Chao said. "If you depart from one ERP system into another ERP system, your business process remains the same. The JCA connector allows the businesspeople to manage the business now."

Despite all the talk of Web services in the industry, solution providers said they are still grappling with integrating legacy systems with Web-enabled middleware. It is a crucial step that must be taken before data from within companies can be published as Web services in UDDI directories, industry observers said.

Chao said the popularity of the Internet proliferated the myth that it would be easy for systems to integrate across enterprises, but that has not proven to be the case.

"The reality is you might have an organization that uses PeopleSoft for human resources and SAP for the inventory management system, and the reality is those don't always speak to each other," Chao said.

While using JCA in the portal makes this integration less costly, there is one catch to creating integration without the app-server layer, McDaniel said. It is not as easy to navigate an ERP system through a portal as it is through an app server and the integration technology that typically accompanies it, he said.

"In the portal, you're going down a layer in ease of use," McDaniel said. "One of the advantages [of the app server is when you're in the application server, there is an integration framework that sits on top and allows you to browse your ERP [system and not have to know much about ERP. It is an ease-of-use cost when you integrate directly with the portal."