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A reference architecture for integration platforms

Wang, Q. (2016) A reference architecture for integration platforms.

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Abstract:With the introduction of more and more distributed applications in enterprises, various integration platform products are designed and created to increase the interoperability between enterprise applications systems and devices. For example, different middleware technologies can facilitate communication and data management between distributed applications and devices. There are various types of middleware technologies, such as message oriented middleware (MOM), object request broker (ORB), remote procedure control (RPC), remote database access (RDA) and so on. As one of the most popular integration solutions, enterprise service bus (ESB) has gained an increasing popularity in this domain. It can not only integrate application systems, but is also extending to integrate various devices. In order to facilitate the future development of integration platforms, a reference architecture of integration platforms is required. A reference architecture can provide guideline and design principles for developers to design system architectures. However, a general and systematic approach on designing integration platforms in literature is not existing yet. In our research, a systematic literature review was carried out to help develop a reference architecture for integration platforms. By using the reference architecture, developers of integration platforms no longer need to design from scratch. The reference architecture can be used as a template to design integration platforms. Besides, a case study in the domain of logistics was carried out to validate the correctness of the reference architecture. This thesis started with a systematic literature review (SLR), which resulted in 31 research papers concerning integration platforms in different domains. After that, an insight into terms of “integration platforms” and “reference architectures” was respectively presented. The definition, characteristics and several instances of integration platforms were firstly described. Then, the definition, decomposition and abstraction level of reference architectures were discussed. To construct the reference architecture of integration platforms, components of integration platforms in research papers from the SLR result were extracted and collected altogether. Then all these components were classified into various categories based on their functionality described in the 31 research papers. Based on those categories, a conceptual model of integration platforms was designed. Besides, a design pattern tree was also created in the reference architecture to help designers choose appropriate design patterns of integration platforms. Finally, a case study in the domain of logistics was studied to validate the correctness of the reference architecture.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Subject:54 computer science
Programme:Computer Science MSc (60300)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/71058
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