Enterprise-class Data Integration at the Edge

Enterprise-class Data Integration

Rich Internet Applications

The RIA Revolution

Rich Internet Applications (RIA) are Web applications with full-featured, highly interactive clients based on Asynchronous Java and XML (AJAX). RIA client software, which includes presentation logic and sometimes business logic, and which runs in a secure "sandbox" in a browser, delivers the rich, interactive user experience commonly associated with traditional desktop applications. No wonder, then, that interactive, responsive RIAs are rapidly replacing older Web applications built with static, click-and-wait Web pages.

AJAX programming tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated. That's not where the challenge lies for anyone interested in developing RIAs.

Rather, the challenge lies in data integration—the back-end sources of data that drive the RIA in the first place. That's where SnapLogic can help.

The Challenge

AJAX toolkits, Adobe Flex, and Microsoft Silverlight make it easier than ever before to create visually compelling, highly interactive application interfaces.

But so far, there hasn't been analogous revolution on the back-end. Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) can do a dazzling job presenting data, but it's difficult to get them the data in the first place.

The Solution

SnapLogic for Rich Internet Applications

SnapLogic makes data resources available for RIAs.

The SnapLogic Data Integration Framework enables developers to rapidly design and deploy secure data services that interoperate with AJAX-based front-ends to create RIAs. SnapLogic Connectors and Pipelines transform data siloes into networked data resources, now accessible to RIAs.

Benefits

For RIAs that program both presentation and business logic in the client and require only data, not an application server, SnapLogic can access, transform and expose data directly.

  • Easily present enterprise data as services in an AJAX-friendly form
  • Transform and process data to meet specific application requirements
  • Provide fine-grained access to applicaton data—and no other data
  • Secure access with familiar Web techniques

 

From Rich Internet Applications to Rich Information Applications

An emerging class of RIAs requires access and presentation of large quantities of data for visualization and reporting. These Rich Information Applications increasingly rely on data services to simplify application development and to offload the application server.

SnapLogic is ideally suited for these data-intensive RIAs, because SnapLogic services deliver data without burdening application servers with data processing tasks.

SnapLogic and the Dojo Community

To further support this style of RIA development, SnapLogic has become active in the Dojo community and has contributed to the development of their grid widget as well as created a Dojo SnapLogic datastore. The SnapLogic datastore abstracts the details of interacting with data service so that application developers do not have to worry about the details of data access. Dojo and SnapLogic can be a powerful combination for developers building Rich Information Applications.