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Enterprise Application Integration

We've seen recent advancements in EAI products in the number of packaged adapters they offer, as well as in their ability to manage system-to-system business processes that span multiple disparate systems. The EAI market is still maturing, however, and over the next year or so, we expect EAI products to continue to gain improved capabilities in a number of areas. The two biggest areas for enhancement are the ability to handle the integration of internal applications with those of outside suppliers or supply chain partners in business-to-business scenarios, and the ability to provide true workflow capabilities to automate process that may involve some level of human interaction.

Tibco's ActiveEnterprise won our Editor's Choice award, thanks largely to its robust process-management and workflow capabilities, and its ability to let business users design and implement processes with little need for technical aid.

Vitria's BusinessWare also fared well, providing good connectors and a good product, but with less comprehensiveness than Tibco's product in areas such as process automation and workflow.