Tibco’s recent launch of its ActiveMatrix product has stirred up some discussion about whether the product suite would simplify the building of SOAs, or add complexity to an already difficult task.

But it is middleware, and middleware can add complexity, especially when it’s added to more middleware. That was the point of ZapThink analyst Ronald Schmelzer, whose comments in a story I wrote for Intelligent Enterprise irritated Tibco.
But it is middleware, and middleware can add complexity, especially when it’s added to more middleware. That was the point of ZapThink analyst Ronald Schmelzer, whose comments in a story I wrote for Intelligent Enterprise irritated Tibco.

“Companies implement systems to deal with heterogeneity, but then things change and they have multiple such systems or the original system doesn’t meet their new needs, so then they need more middleware for their middleware,” Schmelzer said. “And indeed, this Tibco announcement does look like the ‘middleware for your middleware’ type solution. Can this cycle ever end?”

I don’t claim to be an expert in building SOAs, but my experience in writing about standards has me leaning in favor of Schmelzer’s arguments. Over the years, vendors have formed hundreds, if not thousands, of organizations and technical committees to develop interoperability standards and specifications. Yet software still doesn’t work well together. That’s because it’s more profitable to use standards as a guise for locking customers into your platform, than to hand them technology that would make it easier for them to switch to a competitor.

Read more at: Intelligent Enterprise