AUTHOR: Gaurav Jain

Is Cloud Middleware the Way Ahead?

Contents

1 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... 2

2 Cloud Integration & Need ............................................................................................. 3

3 Middleware Options & Considerations ......................................................................... 5

4 SAP Middleware Platforms and Usage Recommendations ........................................... 8

5 Conclusion................................................................................................................... 10

6 References .................................................................................................................. 11

About the Author .............................................................................................................. 12

About L&T Infotech........................................................................................................... 13

 1 Executive Summary
As the world steers towards Automation and Digitization, hosting application on Cloud stands to realize
high growth opportunities and to expand business horizons. Between the various best-of-breed Cloud
applications, enterprises struggle to achieve seamless integration between diverse sources of data to
realize their business objectives. However, given that Cloud applications are not a complete replacement
of on-premise traditional applications, Cloud integration provides efficient means to overcome these
challenges.
Gartner report says, By 2019, iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) will be the integration platform of
choice for new integration projects, overtaking the annual revenue growth of traditional application
integration suites on the way.
Organizations should choose their Cloud strategy by considering their business model, current landscape,
various applications and their integration requirements. Decision should be made wisely before moving to
the Cloud platform.
This White Paper presents Cloud integration needs, the challenges, as well as integration options
available. The paper also compares the options available and recommends the way ahead.

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 2 Cloud Integration & Need
Movement Towards Cloud Applications
With the world moving towards Digitization, Automation, Mobilization, Big Data and Internet of Things, it
has become the core requirement for an organization to cope with the changing technological world.
Furthermore, it is imperative to implement these technologies in a cost, time and resource-effective
manner. Cloud Computing is one of the recent developments in technology, which enables one to surpass
the above mentioned challenges effectively. There are subcategories of the Cloud functionality such as
Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS), Platform as a Service (PAAS) and Software as a Service (SAAS).
Organizations are choosing Cloud solutions for Faster Innovations, Consumer-grade User Experience,
Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and the Best-of-breed Applications for supporting business
processes. Hybrid IT landscapes across On-premise and Cloud have become the norm.
No single Cloud services provider can fulfill all of the various requirements of an enterprise. Different
Cloud or On-premise solutions address the needs of the business.
SAP strategy is also aligned with the market trend and business needs. SAP provides Software-as-a-
Service (SaaS) Cloud solutions such as Ariba for Procurement, SuccessFactors for People Management,
Fieldglass for Labor, Concur for Travel Managment, Hybris for eStore, Cloud for Customer (C4C), SAP
Salesforce for Marketing & Sales, SAP Financial Services Network, and other third-party solutions like
Vertex for Tax Calculation. SAP also provides On-premise applications like ERP, SRM, CRM, APO, PLM to
mention a few.
SAP has more than 24% global ERP software
market share, to provide the above mentioned
cloud benefits to the customer. SAP has come
up with a SaaS platform for next generation SAP
ERP. Its a new product, fully built today on an
in-memory platform i.e. SAP HANA, along with
the modern user experience by Fiori.
ERP SaaS platform named SAP S/4HANA, which
comes in two deployment options, namely SAP
S/4HANA On-premise edition and SAP S/4HANA
Cloud edition. Furthermore, SAP HANA Cloud
Platform (HCP) serves as an extension platform for SAP S/4HANA. Customers and partners can build
specific capabilities, extending the scope of SAP S/4HANA by integrating non-SAP solutions or developing
new capabilities using the whitelisted APIs.
Need for Integration of Cloud Applications
Migrating all applications to the Cloud platform is not always the best solution for all enterprises; nor is
continuing with out-of-date Legacy systems. Organizations follow hybrid approach by keeping few
applications on Cloud and few On-premises.
As more applications move to this new architecture, there is a growing need to seamlessly connect,
integrate and orchestrate Cloud applications with one another and with On-premise and Legacy
applications. Typical Integration features required are:
Real-time or near real-time integration Master and Transactional data/process integration
Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) Multiple database synchronization, huge data transfer
Business to Business Integration (B2B) Integration with customers, vendors and partners
API Management - Process of publishing, promoting and overseeing Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs) in a secure, scalable environment
Prepackaged Integration Flow Preconfigured content helps reduce development efforts
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 Given below are four Middleware options an organization can use to integrate multiple Clouds or On-
premise applications:
Cloud Integration Platform Integration solution is available on the Cloud, it gives all benefits
provided by the Cloud solution. It is referred to as Integration Platform as a Service . Henceforth, in
the paper we have mentioned this is as iPaaS.
On-Premise Middleware Leveraging existing investment using On-premise Middleware.
Hybrid Approach Installing On-premise software agents to enable secure communication between
On-premise systems and the Cloud platform environment.
Web-Services Consuming web-services in a Subscriber application.

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 3 Middleware Options & Considerations
Organizations have to choose from four options listed above. This section will cover the mostly used On-
premise Middleware and Cloud platform, known as iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service). It is not
recommennded from security prespective to open all applications to the outside world, and hybrid is the
preferred option for an organization. Purpose of this White Paper is to help organizations provide
elementary knowledge on Cloud, and on-premise integration platforms & considerations. These
toolshave all middleware functionalities, hence it is crucial for the organization to decide which option to
choose from.

3.1 On-premise Middleware

On-premise Middleware have been in existence for almost 20 years now. There are multiple vendors
delivering On-Premise Middlewares. The current footprint of many organizations has either standardized
on a middleware backbone or has multiple products in the landscape. SAP Process Orchestration (PO) is
the option from SAP for all Integration (Transformation, Routing, Reliable Messaging and Secure Transfer)
and Orchestration (BPM, BRM) needs. On-Premise Middleware, altough used for On-Premise
integrations, can also be used for Cloud integrations. In the Tables below, we compare this option and
mention considerations.

3.1.1 Usage of On-Premise Middleware

If the customer already has on-premise Middleware License
Middleware has capability to integrate Cloud, Mobile and New Dimension Products
Applications/Systems needed to be integrated are mainly on-premise, with few or limited cloud
presence
Few or no needs for integration of other cloud applications
In-house skills exist for the existing Middleware platform

3.2 iPaaS Platform

iPaas is a Cloud Integration Platform to support Application, Data, Process, and Service-Oriented
Architecture (SOA) integration scenarios. It is a multi-tenant platform that supports cloud-to-cloud, cloud-
to-on-premise, on-premise-to-on-premise and B2B integrations. It supports real-time integration and
scales to meet the high-volume demands of Mobile; Extract, Transform and Load (ETL); and Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) environments.
Cloud application challenges and complexities that need to be addressed:
Security is a crucial concern for any cloud-based solution and has major impact on the business
decision of enterprises, whether or not to make use of such solutions.
Selecting a Public or Private Cloud platform is dependent on the number of integration scenarios,
future expected growth, cost involved and the possibility of sharing tenant with other clients.
API Management (Need for Pay-per-Use kind of model)
Middleware capabilities should be present - like Transformation, Routing, Connectivity, Reliability,
Process Orchestration, Administration, Monitoring and Prepackaged Integration Flow.

3.2.1 Usage of iPaaS platform

Customers main focus is on Cloud strategy.
Have the leading system(s) within the Cloud.
Do not have existing on-premise license, or the current maintenance cost is very high.

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 Do not want to invest into On-Premise Middleware and bear the costs associated with it, such as
system setup, maintenance and operations, build-up know how, and so on.
Prefer subscription fee-based license model.

3.3 Integration Platform Selection Considerations

Each organization is unique in terms of its business process, application, data, integration, security
requirement perspective and finally, the overall IT landscape. Some typical situations
Organization have existing Middleware/s, most of the solutions are on-premise.
Organizations do not have a single specific Middleware, hybrid landscape with few applications run
On-Cloud and few On-premise.
Organizations having existing On-premise Middleware license and most of the applications, run on
Cloud
Organizations do not have any Middleware, all applications typically run On-premise.
In our experience, many organizations have more than one Middleware license. Reasons behind such an
architecture are that few applications are tightly coupled with a particular Middleware or messaging
systems application. In such cases, organizations do spend a lot of money on implementation & support
of various Middleware platforms.
Over a period of time, the Middleware capability gets enriched with more functionality. Therefore, there
are high chances that an organization should take decision in order to consolidate Middleware systems to
reduce the TCO, as movement occurs towards the cloud platform usage.

3.4 Comparison
The below Table help clients choose whether On-premise Middleware or iPaaS platform is more suitable
for their organization.

iPaaS Platform On-Premise Middleware

Cloud-based service offerings On-Premise installation in customer
Deployment
landscape
Responsibility of Platform provider Customer
Configuration &
Operations

License Model Subscription Fee Product License & Annual Fees

Virtualization, multi-tenancy, data Single tenant solution, no built-in

Architecture isolation, Automated failover, Rolling
software update.
Vendor-specific pre-packaged content
Pre-packaged Content available. Partner, third-party vendors
are also allowed to build content.
Operations Cloud Managed Services,
Maintenance/Support Integrated with service provider cockpit,
Local monitors
virtualization capabilities, failover to
be configured by a customer.
Vendor-specific pre-packaged content
available. Partner, third-party vendors
are also allowed to build content.
By customer, Local monitors

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 3.5 Key Considerations
Sizing for on-premise software needs to be performed before system installations, hence system
capacity doesnt get used to the fullest. Cloud provides flexibility to customer with pay-per-use, which
in turn saves the customers money.
Speed - How fast can you move the data between applications, and what limitations are there on the
volume of data that can be moved?
Upgrade or Maintained cost should be considered with response to On-premise & Cloud platform.
Security Costs e.g. SSL certificate signed by a Certification Authority (CA).
Pre-packaged Integration Content called iFlows is available for On-premise and Cloud solutions. This
will help reduce business analyst and development cost.
Development Platform for integration Flow (iFlow), developments have to be considered, as well as
the ease of use and availability of skills.

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 4 SAP Middleware Platforms and Usage Recommendations
The below-mentioned integration solutions provided by SAP can meet the various integration needs of a
customer like real-time data transfer, batch data transfer, ETL, process monitoring, connecting to various
plant systems, and connecting to mobile devices.
NetWeaver Process Orchestration is SAPs On-premise Middleware, which combines business process
management, process integration and business rules management software to help companies create
system-to-system integrations and seamless business processes.
SAP HANA Cloud Integration is SAPs iPaaS offering, which helps organizations integrate cloud
applications with On-premise solutions, from SAP and other vendors. It offers both, process
(System2System) and data (batch data & ETL tool) integration features.
SAP NetWeaver Gateway is a set of SAP add-ons, allowing to connect SAP service or transactions
from mobile devices, web applications, and social and collaborative platforms.
SAP BusinessObjects Data Services is a Data Integration tool, tuned primarily for batch data transfer
and for Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) processes.
SAP MII provides direct connection between shop-floor and business operations, mainly used to
organize and analyze hetrogeneous sets of plant data.

Based on our experience of HANA Clould Integration in various Customer Projects, below are some
observations:
Process Integration: Also called HCI-PI, this is mainly used to orchestrate business process, system to
system integration (A2A and B2B Integrations) and for real-time or near real-time integration.
Benefits
Pre-packaged scenarios Number of pre-packaged content available with SAP/Non-SAP
Easy-to-use tooling
Effective and responsive support from SAP
Smooth version upgrade
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 Observations
Encoding option is available to zip (Compress) the file, but specifying file name during
configuration is not supported.
Namespace prefix defined by SOAP Adapter internally before the call, customized namespace
prefix not allowed in the current release.
If asynchronous message failed in HCI, re-process or restart failed message is not possible.
Should provide options to test mapping during development in Eclipse.
Exactly Once-in-Order scenarios are currently not supported.
Data Service: Also called HCI-DS, is a Cloud ETL tool, mainly used for synchronization of bulk data
transfer using batch jobs.
Benefits
Direct read from ABAP Tables / Extractors & flexibility without coding.
Efficiently and securely performing ETL (extract, transform, load) tasks to move data between
On-premise and the Cloud systems.
Tenant Isolation: For each customer system connected to SAP HCI, separate resources(d/b
schema, CPU, memory) are allocated.
The entire communication, security and encryption handling is maintained by SAP on Cloud.
Lower TCO: Cost-effective as hardware is owned by SAP.
Observations
In case a huge volume of data needs to be fetched from more than 30-50 tables at same time,
more than one HCI Agents is the preferred option.
Monitoring tool required more functionality to analyze the data load.
In case of data load failure, restart functionality is not available.
Use delta extraction for high volume data load.

4.1 TCO Considerations

Parameter HANA Cloud Integration (HCI) SAP Process Orchestration (SAP PO)
Development Efforts Typical tools for development are Eclipse The eclipse flavor is still in the
and usage of standards like BPML. maturing stage. Integration with
Comparatively easier development BPM and BRM uses the Eclipse
toolset. toolset.
Also, well integrated with BPM and BRM The Swing client is pretty matured
needs. and needs a good understanding of
the SAP PI concepts.
As the SAP Support towards Cloud
foundry improves, the toolset is
expected to mature.
Upgrade or Included in Cost of License Upgrade and support cost involved
Maintenance
Skill Required JAVA developer JAVA + BPM developer

*This impact of license is not included here, since it depends on the scenario for which the solution needs to be
deployed.

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 5 Conclusion
Given the thrust and focus in terms of Cloud applications, iPaaS platform would certainly be the area of
focus. Clients can evaluate their business need, On-premise system, in-house skill set & cost factor, and
can decide when to move to the Cloud platform. This will help organizations achieve their organization
goals, stakeholder need and also reduce TCO.
L&T Infotech, with its experience across multiple clients and verticals, can certainly help clients choose
the right options for Cloud integration.

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 6 References
Gartner - Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service, Worldwide,
https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-31XRY2I&ct=160325&st=sb
Gartner ERP Market share update 2013 -
http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2014/05/12/gartners-erp-market-share-
update-shows-the-future-of-cloud-erp-is-now/#1f7f0cd274a1
SAP HCI Innovation Pack Price:
https://www.sapappsdevelopmentpartnercenter.com/media/cms_page_media/336/PE4AD_
HCP-ePaaS_ValProp_13Jan_2016_9to16.pdf
Integration Capabilities S/4HANA: https://websmp201.sap-
ag.de/~sapidp/012002523100012384722015E.pdf

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 About the Author
Gaurav Jain is Integration Architect, with more than 12 years of integration
experience. His overall experience ranges from Solution Architecture and Solution
Deployment to Developing value-added tools in SAP space. Gaurav managed and
delivered integration solutions for multiple clients across the globe.
He is a certified PMP and SAP NetWeaver PI consultant.

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 About L&T Infotech
Larsen & Toubro Infotech is a global IT services and solutions provider with presence in 23 countries. We
solve complex business challenges at the convergence of digital and physical with our real-world expertise
and client centricity. We enable our clients to build innovative business models, enhance operational
efficiencies and create captivating customer experiences.

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