WebSphere Application Server V7.0: Concepts ... - IBM Redbooks

DataPower appliances can meet the challenges that are present in an SOA
network with the following features:
► Consumable simplicity
An easy-to-install and easy-to-maintain network appliance that satisfies both
application and network operational groups, and supports current and
emerging standards, and readily available XML Web services standards.
► Enhanced security
Key support that includes XML/SOAP firewall and threat protection, field-level
XML security, data validation, XML Web services access control, service
virtualization, and SSL acceleration.
► Acceleration
A drop-in solution that can streamline XML and Web service deployments,
helping to lower the total cost of ownership and accelerate a return on your
assets, as you continue to move to SOA. SOA appliances are purpose-built
hardware devices that are capable of offloading overtaxed servers by
processing XML, Web services, and other message formats at wire speed.
2.5.1 DataPower appliance models
The WebSphere DataPower appliance family contains three models at the time
this book was written (Figure 2-4 on page 44). Each appliance has its own
characteristics. Each is designed to fit various business needs. These appliance
models are as follows:
► IBM WebSphere DataPower XML Accelerator XA35
This model can help speed common types of XML processing by offloading
the processing from servers and networks. It can perform XML parsing, XML
schema validation, XPath routing, XSLT, XML compression, and other
essential XML processing with wire-speed XML performance.
► IBM WebSphere DataPower XML Security Gateway XS40
XS40 provides a security-enforcement point for XML and Web service
transactions. It offers encryption, firewall filtering, digital signatures, schema
validation, WS-Security, XML access control, XPath, and so on.
► IBM WebSphere DataPower Integration Appliance XI50
This appliance provides transport-independent transformations between
binary, flat text files, and XML message formats. Visual tools are used to
describe data formats, create mappings between different formats, and define
message choreography. The XI50 appliance can transform binary, flat text,
and other non-XML messages to offer an innovative solution for security-rich
XML enablement, ESBs, and mainframe connectivity.
Chapter 2. Integration with other products 43