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Force Fit: Page 9 of 10

But like most magic, EAI requires hard work behind the scenes. We tested software from BEA Systems, IBM Corp., Sybase, Tibco Software and Vitria Technology, and found that all five products did a good job centralizing integration, and all let us define business processes, with varying degrees of ease.

The downside: Byzantine configuration and setup, and prices that may induce sticker shock. But training is available, and cost will be less of a factor if you go with our Editor's Choice: Sybase's Integration Orchestrator, priced at 25 percent less than the nearest competitor. IO also features an intuitive interface and the best Web services implementation, built on technology that has been proven over years of use.

67% of the 300 enterprise readers we surveyed
(from organizations averaging 29,000 employees)
said they do legacy-to-legacy EAI

57%
said Web services are OK for simple transactions
behind the firewall, when asked if Web
services are sufficient to replace
conventional EAI for app-to-app transactions

76%
said 18 months from now, Web services will be OK
for simple partner transactions

57%
said 18 months from now, Web services will be OK
for simple partner transactions