Microsoft Does the Monster Mashup

Today, at the Office Developer conference, Microsoft made a huge foray into enterprise mashups, with SharePoint Server acting as middleware for information coming from many disparate sources.

Microsoft is by no means the first company to go down this middleware path. For years, IBM has offered software for bridging disparate data stores and platforms. Microsoft's mashup approach is broader in its data/platform reach, and it has a modern, Web 2.0 feel. But there's also something archaic about the approach, which favors Microsoft technologies and, more importantly, file formats.

Microsoft first briefed me about today's announcements mid-week last week. I was so intrigued by the enterprise mashups that I asked for a second briefing on Friday. Today's announcements put real substance between Microsoft business intelligence and SOA (service-oriented architecture) strategies.

"We want to provide that face to service-oriented architecture," Mike Walker, managing architecture strategist for Microsoft's Financial Services vertical, said about the mashups.

There is no single Microsoft tool for creating the mashups—although the OBA (Office Business Application) Composition Toolkit is the closest to it—and SharePoint Server is the essential component. Microsoft rolled out lots of OBA tools and samples, including InfoPath forms, site templates and Web parts. Microsoft's early focus is the financial services industry.

"We have 90 OBA components [for financial services]," Walker said. "We're not just building in the horizontal guidance, but the vertical guidance." More information about the tools is available at Microsoft's OBA Central Web site.

The real power is in the plumbing, particularly where Microsoft has worked to support disparate platforms, like Linux, mainframes and Windows, and vertical data standards, such as those set by Accord for the insurance industry. I single out Accord because my tech writing career started with an insurance trade association magazine in 1994, so I have some familiarity with Accord.

Microsoft's SOA mashups are surprisingly customized depending on the vertical market. While Office, BizTalk Server, SharePoint Server and Workflow Foundation are fairly common components, the vertically-specific applications are many. For example, the capital market makes big use of Excel services, while the insurance industry heavily relies on Silverlight. But the final objective—bringing together disparate data types in a meaningful way—is the same.

Something surprising: Microsoft's bigger objective for broadly supporting standards and better enabling data gathering from disparate sources. "It's more about integration than interoperability," Walker explained. "We want to mashup—to make sure that it integrates into the business process. The goal is to reduce the complexity in the enterprise."

The distinction between integration and interoperability is important for Microsoft customers and partners to understand. Data liberation only goes so far. Microsoft OBA tools and solutions heavily rely on OOXML (Office Open XML) file formats. The reliance on Microsoft file formats adds potential burden to adopting Microsoft enterprise mashups. Businesses pulling data together from disparate sources, many of them legacy, face yet more legacy lock-in. Microsoft will liberate the data but not vendor dependence.

Walker was clear about integration versus interoperability objectives. Many enterprises adopting Microsoft mashups will gain integration benefits, but not real interoperability. It's strange, and seemingly a contradiction, because from another perspective pulling together data from disparate sources achieves greater information interoperability. But the underlying technology is more about integration across Microsoft products and tools rather than interoperability for those from other software developers.

That said, by using XML and Microsoft XML-based formats, enterprises can extract information from the presentation layer, offering some measure of data portability. Microsoft also deserves credit for using XML as a means of transcending disparate, vertical information standards. Microsoft has tackled a tough problem. Is it a problem solved? The answer will come through implementation, as early adopters take the risk, which is an ironic concept given the target market. Financial services companies are among the most risk adverse organizations on the planet.

More importantly, Microsoft's SOA mashups will require additional IT investment—at least for enterprises that aren't on the Software Assurance upgrade train. The OBA tools and components really require the newest Microsoft software, versions 2007 or later. Buying in means buying up, which may be a tougher sell with IT spending declining.