- Apr 28, 2020
- Category: Middleware
As an organization, you need to choose the best middleware for your business, so that your process runs smoothly. Most of the decision-makers in small businesses are unaware of how crucial is middleware for their business. They are busy selecting other latest technologies, without realizing that middleware is equally important and is one of the priority technologies for building a strong foundation.
Let’s first understand what middleware technology is?
Middleware, as the name suggests, is the connector to bridge the gap between databases, applications, and tools for providing unified services to users. You know about the hardware and software; middleware is the connector between these two. It’s the technology that is used for transforming information from one program to the other. It takes place in a distributed environment and has no link with the operating system, hardware, or communication protocols.
So, as you can see, it is the connector binding multiple software for improving utility in the technical process, you should choose wisely the middleware technology to improve business results.
Below are some of the factors, how you should choose middleware:
- Usability: You should think about the degree of complexity your organization will have during the installation process, the supplementary tools one will be needing, and the degree of the usability of the environment in the development. Understanding this whole scenario, can help in selecting the best suitable middleware technology for your business.
- For the Seamless Automation: Automating the tasks has become common in many organizations, with many professionals having concerns about whether it will have any effect on other processes. Some companies are favoring the automated expansion of programs that were actually not designed for working together. The middleware technology acts as the ice-breaker and provides the common ground via which different programs are made to work with the help of automation.
- Costs: One has to check the costs of the available middleware technologies, to match the budget of the organization. If you are a small business, then it will be a top priority for you, as a cost-effective technology can help your organization.
- Functionality: The features provided by the technology can also help in deciding whether one should choose that technology for their organization. If you are a big business, then you might need many features that are essential for your process, while small businesses need some basic features to keep the process going.
- For the Seamless Platform Integration: You should have a single platform for connecting everything seamlessly. Just carefully consider some options, such as the inputs and outputs that are involved. Which are the programs that have to be bound together? Does each program on the network need to be accessed by the user? How you want the storage and sharing of your data?
- The Expansion Ability: What are the standard interfaces integrated into the process? Do those interfaces have extensions? You should have answers for these questions before choosing the technology. When you are aware of the interfaces in the technology, then you can know the expansion ability of the technology.
- Flexibility: Flexibility is another important criteria, which should be looked for.
- Is it helping in customizing any specific product?
- Is the process getting the right support?
Some of the different types of middleware technologies are:
- Application programming interface (API)
- Content centric middleware
- Device middleware
- Application server
- Embedded middleware
- Portals
- Message oriented middleware
- Robotic middleware
- Remote procedure call
- Object request broker
- Games engines
- Transaction processing
- Data integration
The popular examples of middleware technologies are:
- Red Hat JBoss enterprise application form: It will cost $12,000 annually and provides 24/7 assistance
- IBM Websphere: It will cost $55.25 per processor value unit or $14,100 per limited usage of the socket
- Oracle Weblogic:It will cost $5000 per processor or as a single user it will cost $100.
All the above middleware technologies provide high-quality support and lower operational costs.
Conclusion: Middleware technology is one of the evergreen technologies. A business will always need this technology for running their operations easily. The middleware technologies help to improve agility, increases the efficiency, improves the management of information, among others. So, it’s better to choose the right middleware technology as per the requirements of your organization.