What goes around comes around
It's funny "what goes around comes around" as they say. The term Web Integrator met it's ultimate demise round about 2001 with the bursting of the internet bubble. At that point being a Web Integrator meant queuing up for your redundancy from your bloated, over paid, under-worked bandwagon.
Not that I should moan, it was a year earlier I had finally decided to pack my European briefcase and stop touring on behalf of U.S. companies and actually start my own business. It was the extortionate rates, ridiculously spoilt la-di-da I.T. consultants earning far more than they could handle that actually triggered me to start a business that actually provided good internet services and development at reasonable prices that even SME's could afford.
But I digress, you see the dream then for some of the next-gen "Integrators" that followed was that web services would change the business I.T. world, I even engaged in another startup with a partner to integrate complex financial operations, it even had a sensible business model (those were the days!). Trouble was at that stage every business and every web offering didn't have Web Services, we had to build them in almost every case. This proved to much for many of the slower moving business cutomers (Read 'Slow' as Financial Institutions). We burnt through some of our own private funding and bags of time getting almost nowhere. My business partner decided it was good for the long run and is still running with it, whilst I got out and carried on with the day to day making money in order that I may at least retain an ounce of sanity and food on the plate for the family, you know how it is.
Well anyhow in case you haven't noticed, we've come full circle, "What" you ask "The Bubble is back", ? No the Web Integrator is back only this time the web services are out there, they are absolutely everywhere. Most modern web apps now provide API's data can be exchanged freely and most businesses are at least starting to use web services. Therefore this time around Web Integration may actually fly, in fact I will stake my reputation on it.
But be careful don't use the trendy new terms for "Web Integrator" you know the "Mesh" word or "Mashup" word it can get you into real trouble as It did in the thread for one of Dennis's recent posts (Sorry Stefan). So if we can't use the new words and the old words are associated with the previous bubble what term should we use?
