As you may have guessed, Pervasive Software has strong ideas about where data integration is heading. After reading a recent blog post from David Linthicum on “Why Data Integration is Critical to Cloud Computing” (You're missing out on a great link! Login to see it.) on ebizQ, I thought I should weigh in on the discussion.  

David says in his post that data integration is critical to delivering cloud-based applications, but that most organizations approach it as an afterthought.   He adds that implementing integration before joining the cloud is the optimal approach.   I entirely agree.   It is all too easy for your data to end up just being isolated in the cloud and all the other expected benefits disappear into thin air.    However, I do not believe that this is a before vs after kind of discussion.    You can start earlier or later, but rather than worry about when to integrate, the main issue will be the proliferation of apps and interfaces on multiple clouds as well as on-premise – and you will need a way to handle these challenges within tight budgetary limits.   That’s why we will be talking more about how you can tackle this challenge without breaking the bank.