The above reasons play an important role for an enterprise moving in to the transitional level of cloud computing. SOA has been the saving grace at many times in addressing some of the enterprise integration challenges, and to make systems collaborate in a heterogeneous environment.

Having a robust messaging infrastructure that keeps the business ticking is the lifeline of any business. The magnitude and extent of automation in this area varies from enterprise to Enterprise, and this aspect indicates much about the maturity of an enterprise.

Thus, Enterprise integration is a result of the growing need that arises out of enterprises migrating to cloud computing in a consumer driven atmosphere. While the phenomenon is considered global, so are the challenges. The intensity of these challenges varies from enterprise to enterprise, thus bringing out unique patterns of need versus solution. With enterprises becoming more and more heterogeneous, distributed computing is one area which is extremely critical for enterprises moving to a services climate.

Enterprises take the steps in putting together infrastructures that support Enterprise-wide message flow across the systems.

In addition, cloud computing is expected to introduce a considerable amount of flexibility to Enterprises that face challenges in the area of putting together a hosting infrastructure that complements their enterprise Application needs. Enterprises can also adopt recommended practices to fight each of these challenges individually like active directory, distributed architecture, web services security, internet protocol security, testing for governance etc.

The Enterprise integration challenges, though global, should be dealt with in the context of the technology landscape of individual enterprises.

The author is General Manager, Developer And Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India