Ian Vanstone
VP Market Insights/Futures
IBM has been in the integration game since the heyday of Enterprise Application Integration (and long before). For a while now, IBM has been going to market with something called IBM Cloud Pak for Integration.
Do you know what IBM Cloud Pak for Integration (ICP4I) does? Where it runs? What makes it special?
To learn more:
- Read the official page – IBM Cloud Pak for Integration
- Read a new article that explains how it works in an AWS environment – Migrate and modernize enterprise integration using IBM Cloud Pak for Integration with Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA)
Alternatively, if you’re brand new to ICP4I, you may want to skip over the above resources for now and start with our simpler guide below.
What can IBM Cloud Pak for Integration do?
ICP4I contains a suite of products that covers all/most modern enterprise integration uses case capabilities, including:
- API Management
- Event Streaming (Kafka-based but better)
- Simple citizen application integration (Non-technical roles can drag and drop cloud connectors and do simple integrations themselves)
- Complex enterprise integration (Technical roles can integrate the stuff that non-techies can’t)
But wait, there’s more! ICP4I also includes:
- Messaging/Queuing
- B2B Gateway (For EDI, etc.)
- High-performance, secure file transfer (Yes, you are still using files)
Your business will likely need at least four of the seven capabilities above. And ICP4I includes a few more capabilities than we listed. We don’t want to give away the secret just yet, but if you don’t need all of the above capabilities, don’t let that deter you from being interested in ICP4I.
Where does IBM Cloud Pak for Integration run?
ICP4I runs on Red Hat OpenShift.
So, ICP4I runs anywhere that Red Hat OpenShift runs—which is anywhere you want, really – on AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM Cloud, or in your old data centres (the ones you kept saying you were getting rid of but somehow still have).
What is IBM Cloud Pak for Integration’s hidden secret?
We already know that ICP4I covers all/most enterprise use cases. That’s quite an offering, by the way.
Typically, managing the licensing for all those integration capabilities would be a complex affair, including:
- managing multiple vendors
- managing a variety of complex licensing models and structures
- managing the nasty ongoing tradeoffs between platforms, teams, use cases, workloads, licensing, and funding. The root cause of the tradeoffs is often simply that you have too much of one platform/capability and not enough of others – due to the waxing and waning of demand for the various integration capabilities and the dynamism of your ever-evolving enterprise technology roadmap.
(Note: We generally find that regardless of vendor, most large enterprises are NOT meeting their license terms and conditions and, therefore, either pay too much or are at risk of a vendor audit and financial penalties. So, drop us a line to chat about IntegrationWorks Software Audit Defence.)
ICP4I‘s hidden secret is that you can say goodbye to the complexity of multiple vendors, complex licensing models, and nasty ongoing tradeoffs between platforms, teams, use cases, workloads, licensing, and funding.
With ICP4I, there is one price for all capabilities. You can adjust the capability mix whenever and as often as you like, fully responsive to your ever-evolving enterprise technology roadmap.
That means, for example:
- If you only need four of the seven-plus capabilities, you pay for four only. And you can rebalance workloads across any number of capabilities whenever you want, at no cost.
- You could start on day one doing a lot of complex enterprise integration and API Management and then flexibly re-balance workloads – whenever you want and at no cost – to support a workload shift towards Event Streaming and delivery of a pilot implementation of high-performance file transfer.
With ICP4I, you’re always in control of how many and how much of the integration capabilities you use.
In a nutshell, ICP4I:
- Covers all/most enterprise integration use cases.
- Runs on the compute you already have.
- Offers you simple and flexible licensing – A LOT simpler than how you’re licensed now. i.e. one price and the ability to rebalance workloads whenever you want, at no cost.
And here’s a picture for you…
IntegrationWorks delivers successful integrations, time after time – to make life easier for you and your business. We’re here to help if you wish to know more about:
- IBM Cloud Pak for Integration
- IntegrationWorks Software Audit Defence and saving you from audit headaches and significant unplanned costs
- Anything else related to integration
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