Computerworld - Greg Howard, an analyst at HTRC Group in San Andreas, Calif., has been following the development of application data routers (ADR) to support Web services. He recently spoke with Computerworld about where application data routers fit in the enterprise.
Do ADRs warrant attention by IT managers? Absolutely, because of the time they save and the performance they can enhance. We conducted a survey of 104 companies with more than 1,000 workers and found the use of XML with databases will go from 62% currently to 88% next year, a big increase.
Are these ADR devices really ready for use? We know of about 10 companies, and several have products that are baked and in use.
What does an ADR do? [They] help IT groups be able to use information from different data sources for an application. And a database could be used by multiple applications. Without a product like an ADR to do that routing specifically, companies must build costly custom software for every interaction. Data routing is not just routing, but ensuring a connection as well.
Most of the companies making ADRs are small and start-ups, so will Cisco or the big players do this? Cisco wouldn't necessarily get into this. But Web services is a big deal in the industry, and implementing a means to connect legacy applications means you need this data router function. So it's a big problem without doing a lot of lot of integration. The big question for 3Com or Cisco is how to facilitate these Web services. Content routing can be done through content delivery network products, so there's a bit of overlap with ADR.
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