Integration glossary
iPaaS (integration platform as a service)
iPaaS, short for integration platform as a service, is integration software delivered as a cloud service: the vendor hosts and runs the platform that connects your applications, data and workflows.
What an iPaaS provides
Most integration platforms offer the same building blocks, whether they are hosted or installed on your own servers.
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Connectors for common applications and databases, so each system's interface does not have to be learned from scratch.
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Mapping tools that line up fields between systems.
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Workflows that react to events and pass work between systems and people.
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Monitoring that shows what ran, what failed and why.
Strengths and limits
Because the vendor runs everything, an iPaaS needs no servers and can be working within a day. Large catalogues of ready-made connectors make cloud applications especially quick to join up.
The trade-off is that your data passes through the vendor's infrastructure, databases inside your network need an agent or an opening in the firewall before the service can reach them, and upgrades follow the vendor's schedule.
iPaaS building blocks, on your own servers
STRAX offers the same building blocks as an iPaaS, with connectors, mapping, workflows and monitoring, and adds a shared hub, portals and reports on the same data. It runs self-hosted on your own servers, so it suits companies that want iPaaS convenience without sending their data through someone else's cloud.
What a self-hosted integration platform is → Database and API connectors → Workflow automation →
More terms
Other ideas worth knowing.
Data hub
A central store that every connected system feeds and reads, so they share one current version of each record.
Read the definition →Change data capture (CDC)
Passing on only what changed in a database, shortly after it changed, instead of copying whole tables on a schedule.
Read the definition →Canonical data model
One agreed definition of shared records such as customer and order, which every connected system is mapped to once.
Read the definition →See it on your own systems.
A demo takes about an hour and shows these ideas working on systems like yours.