New Release of Ipedo's Virtual Integration Server

I'm very pleased to announce the new version of Ipedo XIP.  In 4.3, we've added a bunch of features to make the product even stronger.   I'm especially excited about the new incremental caching capabilities.

If you missed the announcement, here are the highlights:

The new enhancements are designed to increase both the performance and flexibility for large deployments, as well as accommodate the growing use of open source databases in the enterprise.  Whether creating data services in an SOA, or new reports in business intelligence applications, customers can access combinations of business information using a simple templated approach, with performance levels that are transparently maintained.  New features include:

 

-- Incremental Caching -- Ipedo XIP now allows for its cache to be
    refreshed incrementally, significantly reducing network traffic when a
    cache refresh is required.  Working automatically and in the background,
    the new incremental caching capability watches remote data sources for
    changes and automatically keeps the cache in sync.

-- Parameterized Views -- Parameterized views allow developers to
    encapsulate complex queries as parameterized templates, thereby avoiding
    construction of complex ad-hoc query strings at execution time. They are
    defined using a syntax common to prepared statements at design time, and
    parameter values are passed into the view at run time. Ipedo XIP performs
    all the optimizations on the resulting composite query tree to ensure
    efficient execution of the user query.

-- MySQL Enterprise Server Support -- Ipedo XIP can now work seamlessly
    with MySQL Enterprise Server, both as a data source and as a results cache.
    Extensive testing on data type interoperability and performance was done to
    ensure optimal deployment.

The new parameterized views are quite powerful.  MySQL support will be a hit in several of our accounts.  You can see the full release here. 

Enterprise Information Virtualization and the "Information Fabric"

I have to say, I am liking the new coinages from Mike Gilpen and Noel Yuhanna at Forrester: Enterprise Information Virtualization and the Information Fabric.

What's interesting is that last year they called it Enterprise Data Virtualization, but have correctly broadened the definition to include content, thus the switch to "information."  Here's how they described it in last year's report, which is the only publicly available summary:

Enterprises are facing the growing challenges of using disparate sources of data managed by different applications, including problems with data integration, security, performance, availability, and quality. Business users want fast, real-time, and reliable information to make business decisions, while IT wants to lower costs, minimize complexity, and improve operational efficiency. New technology is emerging that Forrester has coined "information fabric," a term defined as a virtualized data layer that integrates heterogeneous data and content repositories in real time. This technology is provided via middleware components that deliver quality information — "the truth" — when and where it's needed. (Here's a link to this year's EIV report - subscr. req.)

I like the idea of Enterprise Information Virtualization being the category, with Information Fabric being the catchy rubric for the concept.  That leaves the technologies for implementing EIV: query federation, virtual views, metadata and distributed caching, which fall in place nicely.  Forrester adds enterprise search to the list of technologies, which could make sense, depending on the application.

I've been talking about virtualization of data sources for quite a while in this blog, so it's nice to see Forrester's work. 

I think we still have a few loose ends to take care of, however.  Since EII and EIV are essentially the same thing (this is my take, not Forrester's), then what to do with the term EII? Also, Forrester also has Information as a Service (IaaS) in the mix, which I get, but to me sounds like something more like a hosted integration service.  Gartner talks about "data services" (which is about more than virtualization, and lacks content, hence the 'data') and the newer "Information Infrastructure."

Stepping back, I think it can be said that, despite the overabundance of terms, the analysts are converging on the idea that a new kind of infrastructure is needed that can deliver the right combinations of data and content to the right users on demand.  This infrastructure must, by its nature, be distributed.  Centralization is not an option.  It's also not about sticking information on a bus - this is for applications, not people.  Sounds like the perfect fit for a combination of query federation (structured and unstructured), virtual views, metadata and caching, which is exactly what Ipedo's got - no matter what you call it.