Integration Framework (I/F) I/F is a highly configurable tool that acts as a connector or mediation device between the core business system and any number of external, off-the shelf or in-house developed legacy systems. Essentially it is the "glue" that allows seamless integration with existing systems regardless of the communication interface they use. Its flexibility allows it to adapt to an external system and transform requests originating from it into core system requests. Furthermore, it can generate responses in the format used by the external system hence achieving a two-way communication interface between the core system and the peripheral systems. The I/F supports interfaces ranging from databases to flat data files (fixed width or delimited) and structured requests such as XML or ASN.1 encoded files. Using standard protocols such as HTTP, HTTPS and FTP, the I/F can receive requests coming from external systems, process them and generate outputs. I/F can be configured for connecting an external system with the core system by using a straightforward XML configuration file. To achieve this amount of flexibility, the I/F converts all kinds of heterogeneous inputs to a unified, generic, internal data model. This approach abstracts the various physical details of the peripheral systems. Though this internal unique representation is extremely important in order to allow consistent management of diverse interfaces, it is only the first half towards the establishment of the required business process. The second half is the ability to specify the algorithms that need to be triggered upon reception of a request. This is where the Integration Framework’s scripting language comes into play. Programming complex business processes in a simple and efficient manner is made easy since the Integration Framework’s scripting language provides the amenities of a modern high level language with smart pointer dereferencing, automatic memory management and loops bound checking. This coupled with the ability to have transparent access to a variety of information flows by means of the uniform internal data model facilitates the orchestration of the business logic in an effortless and compact manner, independent of the idiosyncrasies, the actual protocols or storage devices used by peripheral systems.  Performance is critical in every business application, so the I/F incorporates a flexible threading model allowing data from multiple sources to be retrieved, transformed and processed in parallel in pipelines. The number of threads servicing each source can be configured independently for each source, allowing for the most efficient utilization in a multiprocessor system. Usually, pipelines are implemented using the scripting language. This enables the developer to leverage on the expressive power of a language explicitly designed to simplify the complexity of the core system programming model in a convenient and abstract dialect. However, for time critical applications where a developer needs to use every optimization mechanism that the C language provides, the I/F allows pipelines to also be implemented in native code and to be dynamically linked at run time. Concluding, the I/F enables the owners of heterogeneous batch processing systems to leverage on a powerful, generic processing framework to quickly develop mediation systems and processes that provide full interoperability between their systems within and across organizational boundaries.   I/F: scripting Powerful and flexible handling of complex data Scripting language is designed from scratch to leverage the maximum expressive power for complex data handling Common C-language like syntax The scripting language uses a C-like syntax that makes most developers feel at-home Moreover it extends the C-syntax with constructs like sparse arrays, dynamic array elements, run-time structs which contain RTTI and data etc. I/F: performance Fine-grained multithreading an I/F instance can be configured to use multiple sources each source (the producer) can be served in parallel by multiple pipelines (the consumers) the number of servicing pipelines is configured independently on every source Efficient utilization in multiprocessor systems Native code Usually business logic in pipelines is implemented in script Time critical operations can be implemented in native C++ code to benefit from low level optimizations Native code can be dynamically linked at run-time. Conclusion I/F provides seamless integration between heterogeneous batch systems with minimal development effort. Based on a modular design, allows extensions to be built efficiently. Flexible threading model for optimum scalability. For a presentation of the project please contact us