InterSystems Ensemble vs. Magic xpa Application Platform

• Best suited for fast development with a fundamental emphasis on object orientation
• Prohibitive costs for very small integration projects

In our experience, the product performs really well when interfacing systems with ERP's through SQL server database tables, but we've even made some interfaces with the web service functionality included with the magic xpi integration platform. Also, we've made some SAP Business One - SAP Business One interfaces, for copying information from one company to another and even between two different ERP systems.

Incentivized

• Easy to use: The simplicity of its programming language allows fast learning. Visual environment to generate complex code.
• Robust: A fall of the system will not be a problem. Never again will information of the transactions in progress be lost. Never more messages lost.
• Connect to the world: The most popular connection is possible to implement quickly. FTP, File folder, TCP, SMPT, REST.... all method are ready to use. Only define "where" and "how"

Incentivized

• The UI is really simple to use, you have source/destination mapping for the items.
• The scheduler gives you a lot of options when executing the models.
• The error handling is usually pretty good and the errors can be corrected fast.

Incentivized

• Given that Ensemble and Cache are one of if not the only true fully object orientated database/development technologies for massive transactional data systems its customizability is extensive and it just comes down to the creativity of the developer to get the products to pretty much do whatever they want to do with it. However, this is not necessarily obvious to newcomers to the technology.
• The developer community could do with greater participation from the software developers/application specialists and engineers within InterSystems.
• More extensive documentation and greater access to proven working solutions particularly in the realm of some of the lesser known or new and upcoming technologies.

• Although the scenarios may be online, the main service usually freezes and the processes can't transact any data. With a single restart of the service, the processes will be functioning again.
• The support for more applications would be nice, even though there is a nice number of them. Most of the main applications in the market are supported.
• The licensing for the software may be a little confusing; you can't buy individual licenses as they come in packages of four.

Incentivized

I have yet to raise an issue with InterSystems WRC that they have been unable to resolve to my satisfaction in the 20+ years that I have worked with their products.

Mirth is another integration platform that we have used but its development, in Java, made us always create new methods every time a new product was integrated. Every connection process had to be developed from the beginning and it was not easy to reuse code. Nor did it allow us to have an extensive catalog of HL7 messaging, having to perform the validation of each and every one of its fields manually.

Incentivized

Honestly, we have only used and evaluated magic xpi/xpa platforms because of the recommendation of our SAP Business One main supplier, who has previously used the platform for their developments. So far, we have no regrets with the acquisition of the platform and we are very happy with its performance.

Incentivized

• We have integrated 5 laboratories in a treatment monitoring system in less than a month of development. Being able to integrate the following in a period no longer than a week.

Incentivized

• The implementation time for this kind of projects has been greatly reduced.
• Certifying an In-House resource in the Magix xpi and xpa platforms is probably the best option, considering all of the projects that can be developed in the future without the need of an external consultant.
• The processes that have been automatized with the Magic xpi platform helped reduce human error and the time those processes took to finish.

Incentivized