As the Canadian market gets introduced to concepts like service-oriented architecture (SOA), many businesses struggle to comprehend what integration is and how can it support their business requirements.

SOA is a software architectural concept that defines the use of services to support the requirements of software users. Stressing the virtues of interoperability and reusability, SOA promises greater flexibility and responsiveness in data systems and the business processes they support.

However adoption of SOA and business process management is hindered by lack of comprehension of the most basic vocabulary around the topic, according to Michael Kuhbock, chairman and founder, Integration Consortium, an industry group focused on establishing integration standards and best practices.

"Integration has finally come out of the closet and is no longer the 500-pound gorilla in the room that everyone is trying to ignore," said Kuhbock.

Scant understanding of application integration technologies among enterprises is an issue that needs to be addressed on a priority basis, according to New York-based iWay Software.