It's Azure thing: Software AG hoists application integration platform into Microsoft's cloud

Software AG is shunting its webMethods.io Integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) at Microsoft's Azure cloud environment to snuggle up closer to the beast of Redmond.

Stefan Sigg, chief product officer at Software AG, told The Register the iPaaS was akin to an enterprise service bus for integration, solving the same logical problems with different technical approaches.

"As parts of the application estate move into the cloud, and other parts are being replaced, and some stay on-premises, existing integration is broken up," he said. "You have to re-establish that integration again with the added challenge that there a hybrid situation in the cloud.

"The webMethods.io iPaaS lets companies handle their workloads closer to where their infrastructure is located, increasing activity speed, reducing latency, and providing the highest-quality cloud experience possible."

webMethods.io builds on the "low-code usability" Software AG acquired through the 2018 Built.io merger. Like webMethods, it has more than 1,000 pre-built connectors to integrate apps, data, APIs, and IoT devices.

Already available on AWS, the platform can be hosted on one cloud and used to manage integration between applications on multiple cloud providers as well as in-house software. Sigg said it was a matter of "when rather than if" the platform would become available on Google's cloud. webMethods.io is also available on Alibaba in the Chinese market, he said.

The platform's launch on Azure marks a closer links with Microsoft. Software AG has become part of the Open Data initiative, which also includes SAP and Adobe, to address integration challenges regarding customer data. The move to Azure will enable closer integration with Azure services such as business intelligence or machine learning.

Organisations already using WebMethods for on-premises integration could replicate this approach in Azure using the platform. But those with more bespoke or legacy integrations will need to rebuild them as they shift to the cloud, Sigg said.

As well as integrating applications through an API gateway, Webmethods.io also supports business-to-business integration, to help with information sharing up and down the supply chain. It is designed to create a richer sharing of application data than the old document-based electronic data exchange approach. ®