Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition 5.2

Using Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition integration software, you can easily and cost-effectively XML-enable your organization's existing legacy and proprietary applications. In the process of doing so, you transform the information and services currently locked within these applications into reusable, standards-based application components—which are the building blocks of web services and integration applications.

Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition fully supports important standards for creating and deploying Web services and XML-based integration applications, including—but not limited to—the following standards:

• Extensible Markup Language (XML)
• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
• Web Services Description Language (WSDL)
• Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI)

Because Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition application components are based on open standards, they are extraordinarily flexible: they can work together and with other integration products in a variety of ways to repurpose your organization's legacy and proprietary resources.

For example, you can use these components to craft robust business-to-business (B2B) Web services that streamline the process—and, as a result, cut the cost—of doing business with your organization's partners. These same components can work together equally well in an enterprise application integration (EAI) system that unifies your organization's electronic resources. And, all types of Novell exteNd Composer applications deliver their services without disrupting the valuable functions that underlying legacy and proprietary applications currently provide.

Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition accomplishes this feat without requiring you to program a single line of code. Instead, it uses specialized connectors and simple drag-and-drop procedures to transform back-end resources into XML components. To connect back-end databases and directory-enabled applications—including applications that use Novell eDirectory—exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition ships with exteNd Composer JDBC Connect and exteNd Composer LDAP Connect. Like other exteNd Composer Connectors, exteNd Composer JDBC Connect and exteNd Composer LDAP Connect support all dialects of XML. Separately sold exteNd Composer Connectors are available for virtually all back-end applications—from popular commercial and Web-based applications to Unisys T27 applications such as LINC and MARK. exteNd Composer Connectors are also available for homegrown applications running on IBM mainframe, HP3000, Data General and Tandem platforms.

You use the Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition comprehensive set of wizards and tools to link XML-based components into fully functioning web services. (exteNd Composer's visual development and testing environment includes a far greater number of integrated wizards and tools than this overview can discuss. For in-depth information about the individual components that comprise exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition, visit Novell's documentation website.) You can also use the Novell exteNd Composer Process Manager to combine individual components and entire Web services into business process management (BPM) applications that streamline and simplify your organization's fundamental business processes.

Regardless of the type of application you create, you can test and verify this application using Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition end-to-end animation tool, which offers a visual environment that lets you view any of the processes within this application. After you've verified that your new application is working properly, you can then deploy this application using Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition Java-based runtime environment.

The runtime environment executes and manages Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition applications. In addition, this environment includes a framework for using the services—thread management, connection pooling and security services, for example—that are available through an underlying Web application server. Like all exteNd software, the Novell exteNd Composer Enterprise Edition runtime environment strictly adheres to the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) standard. As a result, it's applications are portable. That is, these applications run on a variety of J2EE Web application servers—including Novell exteNd Application Server, BEA WebLogic Application Server and IBM WebSphere Application Server.