The Integration Consortium was formed in July 2001 after a number of Integration industry leaders identified as a business priority the requirement to ensure industry trends were communicated with reliability and dependability. The integration industry is rapidly evolving and as a result a need to promote greater understanding of and establish guidelines for integration business practices has been identified.

Integration Industry Trends

The Integration Industry is experiencing a state of growth. Worldwide revenues for integration software of all types is expected to grow from $4.3 billion in 2001 to $8.2 billion in 2006, according to IT-market research leader, IDC.

Application integration, middleware and portal markets will grow from $5.1 billion in 2001 to $10.5 billion by 2006, driven by trends in globalization, mergers and acquisitions, and traditional business demands, according to Gartner.

Inadequate software interoperability in the capital facilities industry cost the commercial, institutional and industrial building sectors $15.8 billion in 2002 in lost efficiency, according to a newly released study commissioned by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

History of Integration

Integrating enterprise applications has always been extremely costly and time-consuming. But integrating applications is just a mean to an end - the real end is integrating business processes. Organizations that want to thrive in the 21st century must do a better job of integrating their processes, not only within their organization, but between them, their partners, and their key customers as well.

Data Integration has always been extremely costly and time-consuming. But integrating data is just a means to an end, the real goal is integrating business processes.

Enterprise integration has been consistently identified as a major obstacle to business success. Consequently, in this fast paced highly competitive environment, access to the most accurate information, industry leaders collaboration with business partners and suppliers becomes imperative to ensure your competitive edge.

The Integration Initiative represents the collective set of investments industry leaders are making to facilitate business process integration within and between organizations using Internet-standard protocols and formats. The Initiative is made up of various integration solution Frameworks, various cross-industry investments including a business document library, as well as products and tools for developing, executing, and managing distributed business processes. These investments are being made with industry standard groups, technology and service providers, as well as key global organizations.

By providing a comprehensive and integrated environment consisting of all of these elements, automating business processes becomes easier and far less expensive. Furthermore, by making the technology cost-effective for clients, an organization's base of potential customers and trading partners can dramatically expand, providing more opportunities and lower operating costs.