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Enterprise-Grade Integration Across Cloud and On-Premise

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April 21, 2022

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TIBCO has released enhancements to its multi-pronged 'connected intelligence' platform, which will let enterprises connect, unify, and confidently predict business outcomes.

This fall, the company debuted updates to its TIBCO Connect portfolio of enterprise-wide integration capabilities, along with an evolution of the TIBCO Cloud. Combined, all these upgrades and new features aim to help customers connect, compose, and deliver seamless integrations across any app, data source, device in any environment. 

The idea is to combine the power of integration with DevOps to extend application lifecycles; and deploy and scale time- and cost-efficient microservices and hybrid architectures, according to the TIBCO website.

"TIBCO Connect interconnects applications, processes, and devices in the cloud, on-premises, in the edge, or in a hybrid environment to get data in the form of APIs and real-time events," Rajeev Kozhikkattuthodi, TIBCO's VP of Product Management. He added that it can work with new-gen solutions such as intelligent decision services and even automation bots to drive business outcomes. 

The result: Customers ca "automate end to end business processes and extend the digital core to customers and business partners to drive innovative business solutions," he added.

Among the most notable TIBCO, Connect updates are enhancements to: 

• TIBCO Cloud API Management: An evolution to TIBCO Cloud to manage the value provided by a business expressed by APIs, alongside innovations to enhance the developer pipeline
• TIBCO Cloud Integration: New automation capabilities to allow users to quickly streamline, automate critical processes and workflows to improve business efficiency
• TIBCO Cloud Messaging: New cloud-native storage options empower more support and simplified customer migration from on-prem to cloud-ready solutions, among others 

TIBCO's focus on using APIs to support a broader, multi-modal approach to enterprise-wide connectivity stands out. In particular, TIBCO Connect's support for "full lifecycle API management" includes seamless API integration with data analytics, process automation, and messaging.

We asked Kozhikkattuthodi how TIBCO’s vision for new-gen API-fueled integrations.

"The new TIBCO Cloud API Management offering relies on a cloud-native service discovery mechanism called TIBCO Cloud Mesh," Kozhikkattuthodi said. This provides seamless connectivity to app logic, integration flows, automation apps and more, he added. "All these endpoints can be dynamically discovered using TIBCO Cloud Mesh and be packaged up and managed as APIs," he said.

Another element of TIBCO Connect's API approach is the range of support for widely varied use cases and users with different skill levels. This arises as TIBCO Connect can expose or abstract code-level features as required, Kozhikkattuthodi said.

"We provide a unified collaborative experience for an entire spectrum of user personas. The development tool depends on the user's individual preference," he said. "Developers can adopt high-code capabilities like NodeJS or Java or a business analyst can use low-code capabilities like TIBCO Cloud Integration, TIBCO Cloud Live Apps, or TIBCO Cloud Events to develop apps that can be seamlessly connected to the API being managed."

Kozhikkattuthodi shared examples of how this approach supports all types of users, no matter their skill level:  

• Line of business users can use a low-code technology such as TIBCO Cloud Live Apps with its app wizard & visual process automation modeler.
• Integration specialists can use TIBCO Cloud Integration's web-based IDE to build integration flows that connect SaaS applications.
• Full-stack application developers can use their favorite IDE, such as Microsoft Visual Studio Code or WebStorm to build NodeJS applications.

How TIBCO Connect Drives Enterprise-Wide' Cohesion' with New Gen APIs 

TIBCO Connect's support for APIs also lets enterprises combine various modes of connectivity, creating what one customer called 'cohesion" among varied integration environments.  

"The API universe is rapidly expanding as enterprises continue working with not just massive volumes of data fueled by iPaaS [Integration Platform as a Service] and messaging technologies such as Apache Kafka, but also seek new ways of capturing value from that data using capabilities like API management, streaming, automation, and analytics," Kozhikkattuthodi told IDN. 

One customer use case demonstrated this next-level API push.

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is combining TIBCO integration, messaging, streaming and analytics "to accomplish digital business outcomes that go well beyond what a more traditional API-led approach to integrating a set of IT applications and assets can aspire for," Kozhikkattuthodi said.  

Specifically, ASX used their TIBCO-enabled digital foundation to launch their cloud-based ASX DataSphere.  Kozhikkattuthodi described DataSphere as an "innovative Data-as-a-Service offering that brings together a community of data providers, experts, and insight seekers fueled by data science and visual analytics."

DataSphere will also provide a new revenue source for ASX by offering a range of financial insight products that can be purchased online, he added. 

ASX's Chief Information Officer Dan Chesterman, described their outcome with DataSphere this way: "With TIBCO, we now have an environment that supports the cohesion we need with an expanded API universe and, most importantly, access to data no matter the source in real time for the decision-making insights we need."

TIBCO Connect Works with Two Other Pillar Components – Unify & Predict 

TIBCO Connect is one of three technology pillars designed to complement each other for easy design and deployment of digital transformation projects, Kozhikkattuthodi noted. The other two are TIBCO Unify and TIBCO Predict.

"TIBCO's three pillars fuel the modern digital enterprise and empower its customers to solve the world's most complex data-driven challenges," Kozhikkattuthodi said.

TIBCO Unify provides users access to all data sources to improve data management and ensure data reliability. This equips enterprises with what Kozhikkattuthodi called "a full-fledged set of capabilities, including data quality, data security policies, and governance." As a result, he said that customers have better data access, trust, and control to ensure operational excellence for their business.

Unify includes updates and new capabilities to resolve many data management challenges and empower businesses to assemble an agile data fabric, unrestricted by siloed data, on any cloud platform. Notable updates include:

• TIBCO DQ: Data quality powered by AI/ML and automation 
• TIBCO Data Virtualization gains a web-based, low-code user experience
• TIBCO EBX: A new data processing engine

TIBCO Predict provides operational and business performance through data understanding and control via "hyperconverged analytics" and other capabilities. "Our customers explore their data to find insights in real time for better business outcomes. The pillar delivers real-time intelligence, enabling customers to confidently make data-informed decisions," Kozhikkattuthodi said.

The enhancements to Predict aim to reduce time to data-driven insights, fueling the pervasive use of analytics and data science capabilities. Notable updates include:

• TIBCO Spotfire analytics and visualization solution to get AI and ModelOps capabilities
• TIBCO WebFOCUS to gain cloud-native and containerized deployment options
• TIBCO Data Science to work closer with TIBCO Spotfire and Data Virtualization 
• TIBCO Streaming to let users continuously readjust in real-time predictions based on streaming data

As a result, when Connect, Unify and Predict come together, "TIBCO customers can unlock the potential of real-time data to make faster and smarter decisions," Kozhikkattuthodi said. "These pillars lay the foundation needed for digital innovation and enable enterprises across a wide range of industries to tap the power of their data to innovate and grow."