Software AG has been lately promoting the concept of “Super iPaaS” that is promised to be the evolution of traditional iPaaS platforms. So what is meant by “Super iPaaS”? and how is it different from the current iPaaS offering?
The overarching theme is that “Super iPaaS” emphasizes the creation of enhanced value for customers. In a world characterized by the increasing complexity of application landscapes, the demand for rapid adaptation to business needs, and ever-evolving IT challenges, the “Super iPaaS” aims to be at the forefront of innovation.
Software AG’s Super iPaaS is designed to meet the needs of digital enterprises in the age of cloud, APIs, and microservices. It is a unified platform that provides a comprehensive set of capabilities addressing multifaceted use cases ranging from integrating applications, data, B2B, APIs, as well as automating business processes and managing events.
One key aspect is the concept of a single pane of management or control plane, providing hybrid orchestration, a unified experience, and metering across different environments. The convergence of application and data integration is paramount.
Characteristics of the Super iPaaS
Super iPaaS is characterized by its ability to:
- Integrate anything, anywhere: Super iPaaS can integrate applications, data, and APIs running on-premises, in the cloud, or at the edge of the network.
- Empower both citizen integrators and professional developers: Super iPaaS offers a variety of tools and capabilities to meet the needs of both technical and non-technical users.
- Be smart: Super iPaaS takes advantage of machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate tasks, improve integration performance, and provide insights into integration flows.
Key Components of the Super iPaaS
The super iPaaS is required to have five key capabilities:
- Covers application integration (traditional iPaaS), data integration (former ETL/ELT like tools, B2B (EDI capabilities), APIs (API management) & event messaging (asynchronous processing)
- Native cloud-first end-to-end hybrid integration, on-premise mainframe to cloud
- Global to meet data sovereignty laws yet managed centrally to assure governance
- A common user-interface control plane to manage all aspects of the platform
- Leverages the power of generative AI to drive agility and productivity
iPaaS vs Super iPaaS
Below table gives a high-level explanation of the major differences between a traditional iPaaS and the Super iPaaS
Outcomes of Adopting a Super iPaaS
So what’s the promise of adopting a super iPaaS?
- Agility: you become agile as it allows you to tackle most use cases from a single platform
- Productivity: you become more productive by the fact of having a single platform tackling most of your use cases, aided by generative AI support
- Governance: You can see and control everything from within a single platform.
How Does Software AG Deliver on the Promise of the Super iPaaS?
Software AG has been a long term specialiser in creating enterprise software for IoT, analytics, process management, integration, and other crucial IT requirements on an enterprise IT scale. These solutions are made to increase agility and efficiency in support of digital transformation initiatives. Through its enterprise products, StreamSets and webMethods, Software AG provides capabilities for integration across applications, data, B2B transactions, APIs, and events.
Software AG has been putting a lot of effort into integrating all of these products under a single cloud-based management plane.
Here’s their set of integration-related products. As you can notice, they are well-positioned on delivering to the promise of the “Super iPaaS” concept. We expect more convergence as we go as Software AG has been working actively towards that vision.
- webMethods.io Integration: A cloud-based integration platform as a service (iPaaS)
- webMethods.io B2B: A cloud-based platform for exchanging business documents with trading partners in a secure and reliable manner
- webMethods.io API Management: A platform for managing and securing APIs.
- webMethods.io MFT: A platform for handling and managing file transfers.
- StreamSets: A platform for building and running streaming data pipelines
- webMethods Integration Server: A standards-based enterprise service bus (ESB) that enables businesses to integrate applications and services from any vendor, including ERP systems, databases, mainframes, and SaaS applications.
- webMethods Business Process Management (BPM) Suite: A suite of products for designing, automating, and managing business processes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as webMethods propels itself into the future, it promises to redefine the integration landscape, offering not just solutions but an innovative and adaptive journey for businesses worldwide. It is a leading example of the next generation of integration platforms.
Whether you choose to give it a new name like “Super iPaaS” or simply promote the evolution of iPaaS platforms (as evangelized by Workato, another leader in the integration space), is a minor detail. What matters most is the increasing recognition in transforming the traditional iPaaS platforms into a broader platform. This expanded platform would ultimately cover various integration and automation use cases, such as application, data, B2B, file transfers (MFT), robotic process automation (RPA), and business process management (BPM).