At the heart of most semantics-based integration products is a powerful engine that mediates conflicting meanings among disparate data sources. The technology is designed to eliminate the need to manually analyze and map each source’s various meanings, and then to remap those meanings each time a new data format arrives.

Modulant’s Contextia, for example, provides automated tools that capture the meaning, relationships and context of data elements, and then maps them all into reusable models. A "transformation engine" performs run-time data conversions between the source and target application. Proprietary technology ensures semantic preservation when data is transformed between formats. "This modeling and mapping approach requires no custom coding yet provides the capabilities to capture implicit information in the data," says Jeffrey T. Pollock, CTO for San Francisco-based Modulant.

Contivo, on the other hand, supplies a "thesaurus" that contains databases that allow any two interfaces to map to each other with little or no human intervention. Each time a map is created, the databases store the synonyms and rules associated with both source and target interfaces. Contivo then outputs a transformation code, which is used as a road map for information flows in a run-time environment.

Dave Hollander, CTO of Mountain View, Calif.-based Contivo, says that as semantics developers get a better understanding of how to mediate conflicting meanings among various data sources, semantics-based integration tools are becoming easier to use and highly intuitive. He notes that Contivo can even build bridges between human languages, an important consideration in today’s increasingly globalized business world. "It knows that ’street’ and ’strasse’ are the same thing," he says.

Quadrem’s Dreiling, who selected Contivo for use with his e-marketplace hub, says the technology has worked well, slickly translating between various data formats and deftly removing ambiguities. He notes that the technology has been a significant time-saver. "Otherwise, we would be manually mapping from scratch, and we would have a longer time frame to actually getting trading partners integrated," he says.

Although they have no direct involvement with Contivo, Quadrem’s trading partners also benefit from the software. "They are typically surprised to find that we’re able to facilitate the integration and make that communication mediation at a much easier and faster rate than they anticipate," says Dreiling.

While basking in its benefits, Dreiling remains realistic about the technology’s limitations. He notes that semantics-based integration software isn’t a magic bullet for an enterprise’s data integration troubles. "[CIOs] need to understand and make the commitment for the training of their personnel and then have the discipline to deploy it."