Today, most IT organizations are struggling with funding and facing the need to balance dwindling budgets against rising costs. Leading companies are exploring a variety of ways to deal with these challenges and to do so cost-effectively. Taking a cue from best practice disciplines such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Control Objectives for IT (COBIT), many are turning to automation to work "smarter". Data transformation and integration are key areas where specialized products can yield impressive time and cost efficiencies.

The DataDirect Data Integration Suite is one of the leaders in this space. By easing the pain of integrating diverse applications, the Suite delivers time, cost, and performance efficiencies. A lightweight, cost-effective solution, it provides easy access to data stored in virtually any format - including Relational Database (RDBMS) files, XML, Web Services, Microsoft Excel/Office, flat files, and EDI documents. In doing so, it leverages standards-based XML and XQuery technologies, transforming the data contained within these diverse data stores into XML-compatible format.

Alone or in conjunction with other DataDirect solutions, such as Shadow (for mainframe access), the Data Integration Suite can help reverse rising costs via savings in multiple areas. This paper describes the Suite and its capabilities, and illustrates its value proposition with a variety of customer testimonials and use cases across diverse industries.