webMethods Integration Server Reviews

Typically, webMethods Server and Mediator is used as an ESB. webMethods platform is used to build an EAI platform, enabling communication between many internal systems and third-party operators.

In my opinion, the best advantages are: 

• platform scaling
• graphical data mapper (Designer and webMethods Developer in oldest versions)
• integration BPM process layer with services
• service management via packages.

Business monitoring (BAM) needs improvement because the analytics and prediction module very often has performance problems.

Additionally, this product has too many gaps. You find them after update installations. This should be covered by automatic testing.

Very often there have been stability issues, but typically the source of problems was in the IS configuration or deployed services. Many of problems exist only in AX system (IBM JRE).

No scalability issues. Typically, you can not scale the solution if it is not well designed (architecture, service layers, data processing).

I had some problems with the webMethods support team. They provide fixes very often but sometimes they do not work properly.

Yes, even currently I am using other suppliers' products. The main reason for this situation is that the solution was chosen by the company, and changing technologies is very expensive.

Pricing has to be negotiated with the local Software AG representative. SAG can always prepare an appropriate pricing model for every client.

I think this is a very good and mature solution, but you have to be aware of the pricing. You can use an open-source solution and spend the money saved on licensing for a custom implementation.

Ease of implementation and flexibility to hold the business logic are the most valuable features.

We have used webMethods because of its ubiquitous nature to talk to various technology platforms. Also, the solution had a finite life, webMethods provided a quick integration solution since it is relatively easier to implement, and also, it can hold the business logic in itself.

The client was planning to go in for a separate data exchange platform/Business Information Warehouse as a large-scale global project slated to be alive after five years.

It helped to improve the efficacy of production planning to the market demands and it has improved the quality due to faster information on quality issues.

Mostly, an improvement is needed in the product's documentation.

The documentation deficiencies were in the following areas; since it has been a while, I could recall the top instances where the escalation reached to my level.

wM SAP Adapter User Guide - Example, like Message Broker setup was unclear, leading to issues during Testing and we had refer the internet forums to understand that there is a Message Broker Cleanup utility and that needs to be setup as well.

Release Notes: Used to cover only the latest update for the SAP changes. What has been done to the older version (SAP R/3 4.6, etc.) were not mentioned.

I have used this solution for nearly a year.

In 2008, the technical support's response time was much longer than expected.

There was an implementation issue, i.e., some of the preconditions were not clearly mentioned, so we had to dig through multiple options to troubleshoot and find the right steps.

It was an Enterprise license and I am not sure of the current status.

We evaluated TIBCO.

Put the business first, consider the business architecture and requirements before deciding to go with webMethods. Today, there are multiple open-source, cheaper solutions like Talend available and we can consider those as well.

webMethods Integration Server is an easy-to-use solution and does not require a lot of coding.

I have been using webMethods Integration Server for approximately three and a half years.

The stability of the webMethods Integration Server is good.

I rate the scalability of webMethods Integration Server a nine out of ten.

The technical support is very good. We were using the peer services and they were helpful at supporting every aspect of webMethods Integration Server and with ARIS.

Most of my clients would like the price of the solution to be reduced.

We would advise others to at least give webMethods Integration Server a try. Based on the solution's usability and ease of use it is very good. You don't have to do a lot of coding, it is close to an out-of-the-box functioning solution. It makes life easier.

I rate webMethods Integration Server a nine out of ten.

CentraSite for governance and life cycle management. It frankly fills the gap between IT and business by having approval and policy enforcement on each state and cycle of the asset from the moment it gets created until it is retired.

It becomes the only integration platform through which any external/internal data exchange does any web services. Below are more details:

• There are many projects in the organization which need data from external entities and all integration endpoints implemented using webMethods integration platform.
• Departments in the organization currently understand what to exchange and in what type by having an enterprise data model in webMethods integration platform.
• Business users are involved in any integration as approvals have to take place throughout the lifecycle of the service.
• Reports and dashboards give management a big picture of the integration usage and potential bottlenecks.

Rapid application development has to be considered, especially for UI, where user interference is crucial.

Eight years using the following different product versions:

• webMethods API Management platform – CentraSite, Mediator, API Portal, API Gateway
• webMethods Integration Server
• webMethods Universal Messaging
• Terracotta In-Memory
• webMethods Business Process Management
• webMethods Optimize for Process

No.

No.

Good as long the support request is clear and justified.

Yes, Adobe LiveCycle ES4. Adobe LiveCycle is superior when it comes to UI and process development, whereas, the integration capabilities are less compared to webMethods.

Complex. Lots of configuration parameters have to be set to guarantee a solid platform. Some of these parameters are not mentioned in the product documentation!

Always plan five years ahead and don’t jeopardize the quality of your project by dropping items from the bill of materials.

No.

• Requirements for API life cycle model should be gathered carefully.
• Consider SOA governance and don’t impose lots of policies that restrict the visibility of assets/services.
• Always consider an enterprise data model for service integration and business processes.
• Define potential KPIs for process optimization during the process definition phase, not during the implementation.
• Consider In-Memory while clustering the servers and developing services.
• Consider an asynchronous integration pattern to guarantee the delivery.

Used for intra-company application-to-application integration and for intercompany B2B integration (order to cash, procure payment, HR, and banking functions).

WM is an enterprise bus which is used for all integrations, bringing all message transfers into one application, and making monitoring and integration of applications easy.

The main assets are its 

• flow language
• debugging
• Broker. 

Flow language is far better and more flexible for debugging.

• Broker
• Trading partners
• Portal

We develop EAI applications using webMethods using broker, TN, and IS. 

We use a Publish/Subscribe mechanism in every interface which we develop, because we have found this approach to be the best for every scenario.

It helps a lot. Most of the work can be more easily done by using webMethods compared to other tools.

Broker and UM are the best.

Large file handling is pretty hard comparatively to other middleware tools. 

In our organization, we use many middleware tools. Out of all them, I found webMethods is the most efficient.

The Integration Server and Trading Networks Server. They are the building blocks of EAI in SAG products, and they offer a very good platform.

It has helped us streamline data from hundreds of non-SAP systems into the SAP system.

Ten-plus years.

Yes, there is still plenty of room for improvement in MWS, SAG Designer.

Not much.

On a scale of one to 10, around seven.

No we didn't use any other suite of EAI products.

I don't have insight on the pricing.

I have no information on that.

Upgrade to recent versions has improved things considerably compared to older versions.

This product is for larger companies. Compared to TIBCO I think webMethods is better in terms of ease of use and support.