This week, Informatica revealed the latest edition of its data integration software Informatica Cloud in the form of Informatica Cloud Spring 2012. Informatica Cloud Spring 2012 features the Informatica Cloud Developer Edition, a platform as a service for data integration that empowers developers to create connectors between on-premise or cloud-based applications and the Informatica Cloud. Whereas Informatica Cloud comes pre-built with connectors to select databases and applications, the Informatica Cloud Developer Edition promises to extend Informatica Cloud’s universe of connectivity by giving developers the tools to build connections between their enterprise data repositories and the Informatica Cloud data integration platform.
Connectors currently available on Informatica Marketplace feature applications such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Salesforce, Twitter and Zuora. The Informatica Cloud Developer Edition provides a data integration platform for developers to build connections as outlined in Informatica’s press release below:
Informatica Cloud Developer Edition enables SIs and ISVs to build, customize and deliver native connectivity to any cloud or on-premise business and social applications that have published Web Services APIs. With the new Cloud Connector Toolkit, developers have access to a Java-based API to quickly create high-performance connectors that run as sources or targets within Informatica Cloud
As long as the relevant application targeted for connection to the Informatica Cloud has a “published Web Services API”, developers can leverage a Java-based API provided by the Informatica Cloud Developer Edition to “create high-performance connectors that run as sources or targets within Informatica Cloud.” Informatica Cloud Spring 2012 also features Cloud Integration Templates that provide developers with pre-built templates for integrating data between and across select data repositories. The templates can be embedded within applications and then loaded to the Informatica Cloud or published in the Informatica Marketplace.
Connections that developers build between applications using the Informatica Cloud Developer Edition can also be sold in the Informatica Marketplace to like-minded enterprises seeking similar integration tools. Importantly, the Informatica Cloud Developer Edition illustrates the emerging popularity of PaaS solutions. By providing developers with a tool for creating customized data integration connectors between data sets and applications, Informatica Cloud promises to capitalize on a market appetite for platforms that empower enterprises to customize data integration to their own specific business needs. Because those same cloud connectors can be resold, Informatica’s PaaS promises to create an ever-expanding marketplace of reusable tools that expand data integration capabilities with its base product, Informatica Cloud.
Cloud Computing Today 