The Integration Consortium (IC) is a global

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organisation An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

that shares knowledge and best practices related to

enterprise application integration Enterprise application integration (EAI) is the use of software and computer systems' architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications. Overview Enterprise application integration is an integration framework comp ...

. The mission of the IC is support Information Technology professionals responsible for transforming business through both traditional systems integration and emerging SOA with improved business results. Members of the IC use Collaborative Networked Learning methods to advance integration disciplines including: * a dynamic website which supports

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...

s and forums * a document repository for white-papers and industry research * regular meetings of local chapters to share knowledge in unstructured forums * regional conferences or global summits featuring multi-day structured programs * collaborating with

standards organization A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization (SDO), or standards setting organization (SSO) is an organization whose primary function is developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpr ...

s to provide a real-world practitioner perspective * collaborating with educational institutions to promote research and formal peer-reviewed methods Members of the IC include end user corporations, independent software suppliers, hardware suppliers, system integrators, academic institutions, non-profit institutions, and individual members.

History of IC

The Integration Consortium was first established as the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Consortium and was incorporated in 2001 as a non-profit organization in Alberta, Canada. The organization was renamed as the Integration Consortium in 2005 and subsequently moved its operations to the U.S. and incorporated as a non-profit in Delaware in 2006. Beginning in 2004, the IC has held an annual call for papers (CFP) in order to uncover emerging integration practices and to identify integration thought leaders and practice leaders. Submitted papers that pass a

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...

process are published in an annual ''Integration Journal''. The 2004 through 2007 publications include over 100 white-papers and case studies. Papers may be submitted by members or non-members. The Integration Journal is the first open peer-reviewed publication on the topic of integration outside of strictly academic institutions. The concept of integration as a competency in the IT domain began in the mid-1990s with advent of middleware technology. It has now matured for over 10 years and appears to be picking up momentum and broad-based acceptance as evidenced by the programs of educational institutions. Universities are beginning to include integration topics in their MBA programs and Computer Science curricula. For example, The College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University has established
Enterprise Informatics and Integration Center
with the following mission: ''The Enterprise Informatics and Integration Center (EI²) will actively engage industry, non-profit, and government agency leaders to address critical issues in enterprise processes, knowledge management, and decision making.''

External links

Integration ConsortiumIC Award for Excellence
Information technology organizations Non-profit technology Information society Technology consortia Computer-related awards