IBM WebSphere InterChange Server is a key component of IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server for process automation that manages multiple discrete business applications as one.

If you are looking to improve the operation of their business both internally and externally, you can potentially reduce the time and costs associated with automating key business processes. You can integrate major applications such as ERP, SCM, CRM, and financials with an assurance that information integrity is maintained.

Business processes that are executed by the WebSphere InterChange Server are called collaborations. Collaboration templates are XML process definitions designed visually using the Process Designer and related tools in the WebSphere Business Integration Toolset. Collaborations can call other collaborations to modularize complex activities, and benefit from the reuse of frequently used process segments.

The templates are used to generate the processes that are executed in the WebSphere InterChange Server (collaboration objects). A portfolio of pre-built collaborations (templates and objects), together with their associated business object definitions, is available to accelerate business process implementation. These are licensed separately as IBM WebSphere Business Integration Collaborations, and cover common business process solutions for cross-industry and industry-specific solutions that can be customized using the WebSphere Business Integration Toolset to meet specific requirements.

Reduce bottlenecks with scalable and available business integration systems
WebSphere InterChange Server exploits a logical, distributed hub-and-spoke model—an efficient way to maintain a single point of control over several systems at once. The spoke architecture connecting applications to the server achieves additional scalability by enabling simultaneous processing of the same business events whenever the application interfaces support it. That means your business applications can safely run concurrently and you can invoke multiple instances of an application simultaneously. This parallel use can greatly increase the accessibility of your data and applications, making important information and processes available to your customers and trading partners when they need it.

Increase reliability and scalability with process management capabilities
WebSphere InterChange Server supports processes that are characterized by longer duration between activities and the potential for timeouts. This is a common feature of B2B transactions, where manual activities are combined with automated tasks in business applications. Configurable parameters for process response times and manual overrides for long-lived transactions allow users to customize business processes to achieve optimal flow and accountability. Users also have the flexibility to rescind actions and alerts associated with specific processes.

Enhance efficiency through concurrent business logic execution
Multithreaded processes exploit the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously by sharing computing resources while maintaining the integrity of each process. By using multithreading to execute business logic processes concurrently, WebSphere InterChange Server can handle transactions and interchanges efficiently, using a common approach to business logic to define the rules and specifications that control how transactions are executed.

Based on Java technology, WebSphere InterChange Server is available on Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows 2003, Sun Solaris operating environment, HP-UX operating environment and IBM AIX systems as well as Linux. High-availability solutions are available today on Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows 2003 and in the Sun Solaris and IBM AIX operating environments.

User-defined database connection pools let users directly access relational databases from within a collaboration or map. This feature eliminates the need to provide additional code to manage the application program interfaces (APIs) and the opening and closing of database connections to simplify the execution of database tasks. When executing business logic, connection pooling can decrease the performance overhead of a relational database management system (RDBMS) connection by reducing the need to constantly forge new connections.

Help avert business errors with improved process recovery
In the event of a system failure, WebSphere InterChange Server can provide business process recovery, maintaining event-sequencing and once-only processing so that key processes can be recovered with minimal disruption.

Preserve the integrity of critical business activities
WebSphere InterChange Server helps protect data integrity by enabling event sequencing, cross-referencing and transaction management services. Event sequencing helps keep events that trigger activities within a process in sequential order. This feature allows business processes to be executed in the order they are supposed to, independent of when the activities that are triggered within them finish.

The cross-referencing function allows for related business objects in different systems to be linked. A specific customer in the system may be known by the account code ABCD and in another as 123456. The cross-reference function can maintain this relationship so that the right customer key can be passed to the appropriate application or system. This function can greatly increase productivity by eliminating re-keying and significantly reducing errors.

There are a number of transaction management services offered by WebSphere InterChange Server. Long-lived transactions are used to provide continuity across a business transaction that may take a few minutes, hours or even longer to complete. WebSphere InterChange Server provides simple and sophisticated process rollback by applying a compensating transaction model.

Use open, flexible system monitoring and management
WebSphere InterChange Server offers Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)-compliant interfaces for IBM Tivoli Management Environment (TME) and third-party management applications. The use of open standards can easily integrate the server and adapters into an enterprise wide management policy for your IT infrastructure.

WebSphere InterChange Server can also support Internet-based system monitoring with a variety of visual components to display the health of the server and application adapters. Business process statistics are collected and can be viewed in tab or chart formats. Use the system monitor default configuration as is in your preferred Web browser, or configure your own role-specific monitor consoles. You can also configure business processes to save, view and analyze. WebSphere InterChange Server enables enterprises and departments to manage and monitor business processes—from a central or remote location over the Web.

Increase efficiency with quick, accurate information exchange
WebSphere InterChange Server supports synchronous and asynchronous methods of information exchange, allowing for critical data to be exchanged quickly and accurately to help achieve system efficiency. WebSphere InterChange Server provides message delivery under a request-reply system in which messages are sent back and forth between two points. Internally the server uses event modeling to enhance reusability by keeping application adapters separate from business processes.

The messaging services contained in WebSphere InterChange Server are compliant with IBM WebSphere MQ, Java Message Service (JMS) and Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP) messaging services, helping it adapt to and communicate with your existing systems.

WebSphere InterChange Server includes a remote agent capability that allows for connection to remote applications with IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapters without the need for additional servers on the remote site. Your corporate security can be maintained, both by the use of encryption in the JMS or IBM WebSphere MQ messaging layer, and the firewall proxy services of IBM WebSphere MQ Internet Passthru.

Simplify integration activities and maximize reuse
WebSphere InterChange Server uses a patented business-object model to support many-to-many integration with greater system efficiency and simplified maintenance. Process collaborations operate on generic business objects—individual transactions, processes and events comprising your business processes. Business objects can represent common items, such as customers, accounts or purchase orders. Because the common business objects are separate from the application-specific representations to communicate with the applications, you can avoid the over-head of point-to-point integration. You can also avoid potential additional costs by increasing your reuse of existing assets should you need to implement the same processes with a different application in new or separate divisions of the enterprise.

Extend your process integration
WebSphere InterChange Server, supporting Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technology, provides greater flexibility and allows the server’s functions to extend where you may need it. Compliance with J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA) eases integration with disparate application servers and portal servers. WebSphere InterChange Server implements a JMS-compliant transport and messaging service. And session Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) APIs can add functions throughout the enterprise, making business data and processes available to your entire business.

The WebSphere InterChange Server features a common business object model. This allows the collaboration processes to be developed independently of the applications that will be connected to the WebSphere InterChange Server to participate in the business process. It does this by having the collaboration operate on generic (canonical) business objects, and then have changes mapped to application-specific objects which are then ready to be delivered in a format acceptable to the receiving application. If an industry-standard format for business object exchange is available between applications connected, this mapping phase may be bypassed.

When the collaboration is ready for deployment, it is associated with the adapters that will send and receive business events between the WebSphere InterChange Server and the applications participating in the business process. A portfolio of prebuilt, bidirectional adapters is available that can be configured to use either asynchronous (JMS, WebSphere MQ) or synchronous (IIOP, HTTP) transports for connectivity. These are licensed separately as IBM WebSphere Business Integration Adapters. The portfolio includes technical adapters and enterprise business application adapters. All adapters benefit from a common runtime called the Adapter Framework. Also available separately from the WebSphere InterChange Server is an Adapter Developer Kit that allows custom adapters to be built that exploit the common runtime. Once developed, those adapters are also compatible with IBM WebSphere Application Server and IBM WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker products.