Recently, Microsoft announced that it was just about to deliver a genuine integration service—a multi-tenant, highly scalable enterprise application and data integration Cloud service built on AppFabric and running on Windows Azure. The company proclaimed that it would be an important and game changing step for BizTalk Server—an enterprise integration server, which connects systems inside and across organizations, to exchange data and conduct various processes.

This announcement was made at just the same time when two other major vendors—Dell and Fiorano—revealed their plans to offer solutions for application and data integration in the Cloud. Dell had acquired Boomi, a company that offers a Cloud-based service called AtomSphere, which is an integration platform for connecting Cloud-based applications with other apps. One more Silicon Valley’s major player, Fiorano had launched the Fiorano Cloud Platform, which is a hybrid version of the traditional on-premises integration model and the contemporary integration-as-a-service model.

These are exciting innovations in the data integration space and in the integration-as-a-service market in general. The major software vendors are definitely heading for the integration-in-the-cloud solutions. The best news is that Cloud customers may be getting stronger and more up-to-date application and data integration platforms than those installed on traditional on-premises servers.