An Idea Whose Time May Have Finally Come (Part 1 of 2)
Mimi Ho - Robert Frances Group - February 2004

IT executives should consider enterprise information integration (EII) as a cost-effective alternative to both enterprise application integration (EAI) and data warehousing as a means of driving decision support systems, enterprise portals, and other information-powered applications using corporate data sources. More powerful servers, inexpensive, high-capacity main memories, and a 15-year accumulation of query optimizing techniques are making database federation – treating a collection of databases as a single resource – a cost-effective reality. Several new and upgraded products can now provide this ability. IT executives should put EII on their short list of enabling technologies for projects centered around integration of disparate information resources.