Mule can help stubborn SOA problems
- TAGS:BPM, ESB, Mule, open source, SOA
- IT TOPICS:Applications, Enterprise Apps, Open Source
The open source project Mule is an enterprise service bus (ESB) that can give you much of the features and functions of proprietary vendors' offerings. But Dave Rosenberg, CEO of MuleSource Inc. in San Francisco, says Mule users might be more successful than those applying proprietary approaches to service-oriented architecture (SOA) deployments because they tend to be technology-driven people rather than process-driven people. He claims most vendors put the business-process management (BPM) cart before the technology horse when designing SOA applications. These vendors suggest, Rosenberg asserts, "all you need to do is figure out your processes then everything will magically happen." Vendors get users excited about the visual aspect of BPM, while underestimating the technology side, he says. That's unwise. For example, BPM tools might lead you to connect legacy apps that might be too difficult and pricey to integrate into a SOA scheme. "You need a theory about what your backbone will look like before you do BPM," Rosenberg says. In January a new product, Mule HQ, will be ready, offering patch management, infrastructure monitoring and the ability to track transactions for auditors. Subscription pricing starts at $7,000 per CPU.
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