Chapter 7. The TIBCO Product Suite

The TIBCO product suite is very broad and comprehensive (Figure 7-1). As such, it is impossible to cover the entire product suite in any practically sized volume. So where do you start when it comes to TIBCO and architecture?

Figure 7-1. Overview of the TIBCO Product Suite

The answer to this question begins with the realization that most solutions built with TIBCO products are distributed systems. These systems involve many different types of components, only some of which are TIBCO products.

By their very nature, distributed systems require components to interact with one another—to connect, interact, and coordinate. Interaction and coordination provide the conceptual focus for TIBCO Architecture Fundamentals. They determine the products and design patterns that will be discussed in this book.

Interaction requires communications, and the two most prevalent communications mechanisms being employed today are the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) and the Java Messaging Service (JMS). Components using HTTP talk directly to one another over the network, and this protocol is amply documented elsewhere. On the other hand, components using JMS for communications require a messaging server. This book discusses the TIBCO Enterprise Messaging Service (EMS), which provides JMS capabilities and much more besides.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architecture style followed in many modern designs. At the core of a modern TIBCO-based SOA design lie TIBCO ActiveMatrix^® Service Bus, TIBCO ActiveMatrix^® Service Grid, and TIBCO ActiveMatrix^® BusinessWorks™. Augmenting these products is a series of TIBCO ActiveMatrix adapters that facilitate interactions with non-TIBCO components. These products are the primary focus of this book and will be discussed in some detail.

Beyond basic interactions, solutions tend to grow in different directions: composite applications and services, business process management, and business optimization. Each of these areas will be the subject of a specialized follow-on book addressing that particular area:

• Architecting Composite Applications and Services with TIBCO

• Architecting BPM Solutions with TIBCO

• Architecting Complex Event Processing Solutions with TIBCO

Each of these areas has a core product that is central to most of the solutions built in that area. Composite applications and services are built largely on TIBCO ActiveMatrix Service Bus and Service Grid. In business process management (BPM), solutions are generally built on the TIBCO ActiveMatrix^® BPM product. In complex event processing, solutions are generally built on TIBCO BusinessEvents™. For completeness, this book provides a brief overview of these latter two products as well. Information on all TIBCO products can be found at www.tibco.com and www.TIBCOmmunity.com.