Which is the best overall and any reasons why XI or webSphere should not be considered?

“Best” is always defined in the eyes of the beholder. What works for one might be miserable for another. My two bits:

• XI is the latest version of SAP integration (based on Netweaver components). Like the technologies that came before, it is possible that SAP will abandon this technology as well. Supposedly using “external” integration (integrations that don’t involve a connection to SAP) costs money–so the “free” integration component isn’t. OTOH, if SAP is the center of your universe and all integrations involve connecting to SAP is some form, then it may be a good idea to look into it.

• There are many products under the webSphere brand name. Which product(s) are you considering?

• Which wM products are you using/considering?

A search of the forums should turn up previous discussions on this topic.

Thanks for the reply Rob. We are currently using SAP business connector and as a trading partner to one of our vendors we have IS 4.6 installed. As SAP BC is out of support soon we are looking at integration solutions. We are looking at webSphere message broker and business integration adapter for SAP as well as SAP XI. While searching through the forum I saw another comment from a couple of years back and the writer shared the same sentiment as you that it is possible that SAP abandons this new technology and hence the post. Going wM means less redevelopment work but this is an opportunity for us to check other alternatives out.

The comment from a couple years back is probably mine. It’s a pessimistic outlook which probably shouldn’t be given too much weight.

You can be successful with any of the tools. You’ll need to decide what gives your company the best bang for the buck and meets your delivery timeframes. Moving from BC to IS is pretty painless. Most of the items you’ll run into are version update items, not outright incompatibilities.