XAware Open Source 5 comprises a data services layer that transforms data into reusable XML components that can be exposed as data views and consumed external applications and business processes. The data views can wrapper multiple flavors of integration, from traditional extract, transform, and load (ETL) for data warehousing, through enterprise application integration (EAI) and data federation, to data synchronization and data migration.
The data views also support web services connectivity standards like SOAP and REST as well as the Java API. XAware also provides pre-built adaptors for a variety of data formats including SQL databases, Cobol mainframe, MQ message queues and unstructured data using regular expression processing.
A schema-navigation plug-in is also available for industry-standard XML formats like ACORD.
In effect XAware Open Source 5 is really a data abstraction later that lets users create a logical view of data before it is associated to various physical data stores.
The software is Eclipse-based and its runtime engine is built on the Spring Framework, a data integration and data services execution engine.
XAware is also handing the software to the open source community via the Community Open Innovation Process, to facilitate developer cooperation.
The company also said it also intends to partner closely with other open source projects. As a start it announced a formal alliance with MySQL, a Swedish open source database provider. XAware now becomes a MySQL Enterprise Gold Partner and providers its database user with real-time access to XML data. Additionally MySQL data can also be exposed through XAware’s XML capabilities as SOAP or REST web services.
XAware, which is based in Colorado Springs, isn’t the only vendor developing open source data integration software. Los Altos, California-based Talend recently announced a new version of its Open Studio data integration software that introduces new SOA-based capabilities for exposing data integration processes as web services and better support for real-time integration.
However XAware claims its software is more comprehensive, extending beyond ETL data warehousing to other types of operational integration, and also increases developer productivity through a visually, streamlined build-deploy-maintenance cycle that is managed through a wizard-based Eclipse plug-in tool called Designer.
We’re taking data integration to the masses, said Tim Harvey, CEO of XAware.
Open source gives us the opportunity to build a vibrant community around the value of service-enabling data integration.
XAware is being offered as a dual license – for free under the open source GPLv2 license and also as a commercial license. Service and support subscription can be bought separately.
Around 40 companies use XAware’s software.
