Differences between XI and webMethods

[Former Member]

We have both webMethods and XI installed and would like to leverage the best features of each. Has anyone researched the differences, pros and cons, and any other comparisons between these two products?

Thanks.

Jay Sollenberger

[vijay_b4]

Hi Jay,

Good question

From experience and discussions with other customers have yielded probably interesting questions on XI's capabilities, some of the questions on its abilities would

1) Failover mechanisms and clustering capabilties-Does it Involved a downtime- Answer is YES which is a problem for us in convincing customers of XI's ability as a stable middleware..Its evolving so have to put up with it.

2) XI-XI communication is primitive..is not native performed as in say webmethods/TIbco..Bridge mechanism is missing..Now its either HTTP/SOAP/JMS for communication.

3) Needs more integrated mechanisms between BPE and Mapping engine..I would say other middlewares score again on this front.

Some of the urls where you can get some info about the middleware products XI, Biztalk, Webmethods etc are:

Reward points if this helps

Regards

Vani.

[Former Member]

Hi you all, I'm doing the same valutation versus TIBCO, well guys, XI still have a big handicap 'til BPM will be released with XI 3.0, so XI is NOT similar to other product....

[Former Member]

Hello,

To answer your question of the differences between XI and webM:

SAP Business Connector (a.k.a. webM)

- Point-to-point connectivity

- Messaging, mapping, routing

- Free download from SAP Service Marketplace

- Relatively small footprint

- webMethods adapters for non-SAP integration

- MarketSet Connector based on Business Connector

- XML-enabling of existing SAP systems

SAP Exchange Infrastructure (a.k.a. SAP XI)

- Central hub for intra/inter-enterprise integration

- Messaging, mapping, routing, business scenarios, business processes

- Included in SAP solutions or licensed separately

- Runs on SAP Web Application Server

- Eco-system of partners providing adapters and content (including also webMethods)

- Messaging adapter for connection to MarketSet environments

- Leverages native XML capabilities of Web Application Server

Both are XML-based

- Coexistence and integration of both will be possible

So, then why are the two still in existence? Mainly because difference customers have difference timetables for their businesses. Customers looking for a quick implementation of a point-to-point scenario in the short term can still use the Business Connector. BUT, customers looking for a strategic integration solution for the complete application landscape should consider the Exchange Infrastructure.

Hope that contributes to your inquiry.

With regards,

John Ta

[Former Member]

John,

You state above that XI is included in SAP solutions or licensed saperately.

We are applying for SRM 3.0 Rampup to upgrade our EBP 3.5 to EBP 4.0 and planned on migrating our Business Connector 4.6 with MarketSet 3.0 over to XI with Marketset Adapter.

However, we are now told that we have to license XI separately.

What are the SAP Solutions you refer to as XI being included with?

Regards,

Mark

[Former Member]

Hello Mark,

SAP XI can be sold standalone. For now, SAP SRM (Supplier Relationship Management) and SAP MDM (Master Data Management) are the two products I know of which has SAP XI bundled with their product suite since they use it for message processing. Others are planned and will be rolled out this year including certain xApps, CRM, etc. Those who have these two products and want to tap SAP XI for other scenarios other than its provided interfaces will need to have a separate SAP XI license in order to do further development.

With regards,

John Ta

[Former Member]

It is incorrect to state - SAP Business Connector (a.k.a. webM).

In the early days a webmethods SAP integration solution was taken and rebranded as SAPBC. However since the onset of XI the SAPBC line was no longer supported by SAP. Since then Webmethods have developed a whole suite of products / enhancements around this to include, broker, message monitoring, BPM technoligies ..

[Former Member]

It is incorrect to state (with your words that the SAPBC line was no longer supported by SAP. There has been always support. And in July 2008, SAP will release the Business Connector 4.8, which can be seen as a maintenance update which supports now current OS's and JVM's.

See SAP note 1094412 for futher details...

Christian Sy

[Former Member]

Hi Christian

I stand corrected on the support statement .. interesting to know, thanks !!

Damien

[Former Member]

Hi Jay,

I guess XI provides all the webMethods' features plus more, like monitoring, messaging, etc. In one of the topics here, Mark mentioned BC and SAP XI can be used side by side. Pl. refer topic "Business Connector to XI migration". I think the same logic applies to webMethods also.

I have similar question. Why do we need two applications with the same functionality. Assuming, XI provides all the features what webMethods or Business Connector or BizTalk. Is it more appropriate to decommision the other application immediately or later, which would result in lower maintenance cost, less failure points etc.

What would be the best approach for companies which currently has similar architecture like SAP XI. Or it would make sense to leverage best features from SAP XI and other similar applications.

Thanks,

AG Ammanur