Outlook Series | Cast Iron Systems Intros OmniConnect for Cloud Integration

Cast Iron Systems Intros OmniConnect for Cloud Integration

March 10, 2010

Cast Iron OmniConnect provides everything that small, midsize, and large companies need to successfully integrate the hybrid world of public clouds, private clouds, and on-premise applications.

"Many IT vendors see SaaS and Cloud solutions as a means to adapt and even expand their businesses," said Charlie Burns, Vice President at Saugatuck Technology. "However, adoption of new SaaS or Cloud-based solutions can often be impeded by integration with existing systems. Cast Iron is addressing this impediment by focusing on rich functionality and ease-of-implementation in OmniConnect: a cloud integration offering for enterprises of all sizes."

Until now, customers have relied on first generation cloud integration products that provided only a temporary stop-gap for connecting the hybrid world of cloud and on-premise applications.

"Most integration vendors require IT and SaaS providers to use multiple products, complex on-premise tools, or make do with basic services in the cloud," said Ken Comée, CEO of Cast Iron Systems. "OmniConnect represents the next-generation of cloud integration solutions, clearly leapfrogging those products. By providing a single robust platform, designed from the ground up to deliver everything needed for cloud and on-premise integration of any complexity, OmniConnect will rapidly become the industry’s new de facto integration standard."

The Cast Iron OmniConnect platform delivers groundbreaking capabilities:

1. Complete Integrations: data migration, process integration, and UI mashup capabilities all from one vendor

With Cast Iron OmniConnect, companies can now fulfill all of their integration needs using just one product. Starting with data integration as the foundation, Cast Iron OmniConnect enables SaaS applications to access, cleanse, and synchronize data stored in legacy systems — all in real time. Unlike data integration products that handle only the data part of the problem, Cast Iron OmniConnect also provides process-level integration. Complete processes such as quote-to-order, purchase-to-pay, and order-to-cash can be modeled and seamlessly executed without ever leaving the OmniConnect environment.

"Cast Iron's OmniConnect will let our customers more easily and effectively integrate their data into our application suite, allowing them to go live faster and more quickly realize the return on their investment in the SuccessFactors SuccessCloud," said Tom Fisher, Vice President of Cloud Computing at SuccessFactors. "Cast Iron's OmniConnect accelerates our customers' ability to achieve a unified, complete view of the enterprise through our Business Execution Software suite."

In addition, when information from disparate sources needs to be brought together and displayed within the native user interface of a single application, Cast Iron OmniConnect can mashup that data to present a single unified view — without taking the data out of one application and putting it into another. Cast Iron OmniConnect is effectively three complete integration products in one.

"We’re excited to be leveraging Cast Iron’s OmniConnect," said Nikhil Govindaraj, vice president of products for nGenera CIM. "Now, not only can we embed and reference nGen Knowledgebase within other on-premise and SaaS applications, but users of nGen Email and Chat can also experience seamless and integrated access to case management, CRM, and ERP data."

2. Complete Cloud Experience: design, run, manage — all in the cloud

The OmniConnect platform provides a completely native cloud-based experience for companies to connect any combination of cloud and on-premise applications. Users can now configure their integration processes in the cloud, run them in a multi-tenant cloud-based environment, and monitor all integrations from a single cloud-based console. This is in contrast to first generation "cloud" technologies that required users to execute their operations on premise, storing only management data in the cloud.

"When we began working with Cast Iron, they helped us complete our original integration in two weeks, which allowed flawless synchronization of bidirectional account information between our on-premise ERP system and Salesforce CRM," said Judi Smith, Director of Strategic Services at Awana, a nonprofit ministry that partners with more than 15,000 churches in over 100 countries. "Since then, we have implemented many projects with Cast Iron such as integrating web applications with salesforce.com and with our web store and adding territory management and real-time workflow as accounts are added to salesforce.com. Using OmniConnect to design, run, and monitor our integrations will enable us to work even more efficiently."

At the heart of OmniConnect's ability to interact safely with corporate data is the Cast Iron Secure Connector (CSC), a secure channel that enables the encrypted exchange of firewalled data between a company's enterprise applications and Cast Iron’s multi-tenant cloud service.

3. Complete Reusability of connectivity and processes:

Thanks to the new Connector Development Kit (CDK), which makes building connections to new applications and data sources simpler than ever before, all connectivity created using OmniConnect can be re-used to snap in connections to public clouds, private clouds, and on-premise applications. These connectors will typically save IT and ISVs up to 50 percent of the time they spend building integrations.

In addition, the OmniConnect platform includes hundreds of re-usable Template Integration Processes (TIPs) that are searchable with a single click in an online library, which contains templates for all of the most common processes between cloud and on-premise applications. Cast Iron customers and partners can create their own wizard-driven re-usable templates with the new point-and-click TIP Development Kit (TDK). After configuring their TIPs, they can publish them internally or make them instantly available to the entire Cast Iron community of users.

The online Cast Iron TIP library saves up to 80 percent of the time IT or SaaS providers usually spend building and managing their integrations. Customers and partners alike can expedite their integration timeline by re-using Cast Iron OmniConnect connectors and building TIPs to take advantage of expanded cross-selling opportunities.

"Cast Iron and SpringCM both believe in simplifying complexity," said Roger Bottum, Vice President of Marketing at SpringCM. "Our focus is on delivery in days, and Cast Iron's OmniConnect will make it even faster for our customers to integrate their SpringCM cloud content management and on-premise enterprise applications."

4. Completely Portable, Embeddable, and Brandable:

The OmniConnect platform again breaks new ground with complete portability of both integrations and OmniConnect itself into any public cloud, private cloud, or on-premise data center environment. Integrations can be moved seamlessly between these environments as business needs change. In addition, Cloud application, platform, and infrastructure providers can embed and brand the OmniConnect platform as their own integration-as-a-service offering.

For example, Cast Iron is helping Dell Integration Services resolve the issue of integration with existing applications for Dell customers. Dell Integration Services, powered by Cast Iron, is providing the integration speed and flexibility that helps drive customers’ efficiency and productivity.

5. Centralized Cloud Management:

With its new cloud-based management console, Cast Iron OmniConnect users can monitor multiple integrations across customer deployments in a single location from anywhere, at anytime. In addition, OmniConnect's new Management APIs enable IT and SaaS providers to view this monitoring data from within their private or public clouds.

Cast Iron is also providing OmniConnect's complete cloud experience to Amazon Web Services’ customers through integration-as-a-service. Being able to configure, run, and monitor their integrations in the cloud enables them to rapidly onboard to Amazon EC2 and realize ROI faster than before.

The OmniConnect platform is immediately available and comes in three deployment models: multi-tenant integration-as-a-service offering, on-premise or hosted virtual appliance, or physical appliance. OmniConnect, a quantum leap in integration technology, enables customers to accomplish all of their cloud and on-premise integration goals using a single solution.

Ken Comée, CEO of Cast Iron Systems, added, "No other integration product provides such a complete solution for corporate IT and SaaS ISVs. Our OmniConnect platform will single handedly transform the integration of data, processes, and UIs from a business challenge into a closely guarded competitive advantage."