Follow-up to XML Appliances

Posted by TomRose on August 5, 2009 under EA, SOA, Virtualization, XML | 2 Comments to Read

As a follow-up to “XML Appliances – Strategic Shift or Tactical Technology Flash”, I’m leaning toward a flash. Having purpose built hardware appliances for very specific needs can make sense, but as general middleware integration devices, I’m not buying into it.

For instance, physically hardened appliances as application level perimeter security devices seems to make great sense, as they have a very specific purpose in terms of application level logic they perform (security), plus their physical security attributes. Quickly, vendors move beyond specific purpose and start to position these devices as general purpose devices for enterprise integration, by definition, it’s no longer specific purpose, and the benefit/cost curve starts heading in the direction of zero fast.

As an industry we have moved away from purpose built hardware in the enterprise for decades, as the support cost is high for this model. As we move to virtualized environments and cloud computing, we are actually accelerating our move away from purposeful built hardware devices. So if these devices start popping up in the general purpose integration space in support of SOA, think long and hard about where your organization is headed in terms of infrastructure virtualization, and where these devices would fit in that strategy.