Mashups: A Technical Overview
IBM's Mashup Center combines InfoSphere Mashup Hub with Lotus Mashups to supply tools for quickly creating widgets and mashups. It includes ready-to use connectors to the most common back-end sources from enterprise systems such as SAP, standard databases, desktop data such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, and outside sources such as the web. It provides the framework to link the output of one widget to another, a catalog that facilitates the sharing of widgets and mashups, and a browser based tool that enables end users to assemble widgets into mashups. IBM Mashup Center also incorporates security and governance capabilities to meet enterprise IT requirements.

Avaya has developed and made available application programming interfaces (APIs) to all of the communication services and technologies across its product line. These APIs are the essential component to integrate communications with business applications.

These APIs give widget developers a way to provide end users with one-click access to voice services, presence information, conferencing, call recording or other communications services. Integration with business data can enable innovative services, such as an enhanced presence status that indicates more than a Field Engineer is currently on the phone—it could indicate that he/she is unavailable due to customer assignment or travel.

Individual mashups are designed for quick assembly and to be modified as business needs dictate. Individual widgets, on the other hand, can be used repeatedly in many different mashups and are carefully designed and implemented to ensure reliability and security.

Sample Mashups
Sample mashups described below illustrate how easily mashups can be customized and modified for different job functions or tasks and how they can benefit both IT and end user staff. The following example shows how mashups address Account Executive and Field Engineering Manager requirements.

Field Engineering Managers must be able to track the status of customer problems, assign Field Engineers, and discuss courses of action with them. They must also receive timely updates and, in some cases, be able to contact customers directly.

The FE Manager's mashup combines a set of widgets that shows on a single screen all of the information and communications options for each of a FE Manager's tasks. The screen includes:

• A trouble ticket search form widget. The FE Manager enters criteria such as ticket ID, customer name, or a range of dates.
• A display-and-selection widget showing the list of tickets meeting the criteria. The FE Manager clicks to select a ticket.
• A display widget showing a list of FEs with the skills to address the selected customer problem, along with their availability (presence).
• A selection widget for assigning one of the selected FEs.
• A widget displaying and providing access to the options for contacting the FE.
• A display widget showing contact information for the affected customer and providing access to options for contacting the customer.
• A map widget showing the customer's location.

 View a video of the demo applications

FE Managers use their mashup to check for new customer problems, assign FEs, review status of ongoing problems, and, if necessary, contact the assigned FE or customer using email, SMS or a phone call. When contacting the customer by phone, the FE manager can then click the Add button to quickly join another participant to a conference call. All of the information and all of the communications options are available on a single screen.

Account Executives must also ensure ongoing customer satisfaction. Despite different job functions, Account Executives require much of the same information as FE Managers. Thus, the Account Executive's mashup can reuse many of the same widgets as the FE Manager's.

The Account Executive's search-form widget accepts the same selection criteria as the FE Manager's widget, but selects only among tickets generated by the Account Executive's customers. Trouble ticket and customer information display widgets are common to both the AE and FE Manager mashups. FE and customer access widgets are also common. The FE Manager's mashup includes a Field Engineer selection widget. The Account Executive's mashup shows which FE is assigned, but since Account Executives do not assign FEs, the Account Executive's mashup does not provide that option.

Using mashup technology, IBM and Avaya developers transformed the FE Manager mashup for Account Executive use in just forty-five minutes. Traditional application development approaches would have likely required IT staffers to design and implement two different applications for two different sets of users. End users also benefit because they have easy access to all of the information and communications options needed to carry out their roles.

The Result: Adaptable Applications and Efficient Communications
Communication-enabled mashups answer the questions, "How can we combine efficient, easy-to-use communications with applications? And how can we allow end users to quickly adapt applications for their unique roles and needs within the enterprise?"

Avaya and IBM have pooled their expertise to empower organizations to create these types of solutions. Communication-Enabled Mashups combine Avaya's broad range of communication products and technologies with IBM's experience and skills in enterprise computing. Together they create an efficient means to bring together the information required by the enterprise line of business staff, present it in the way that best suits each role and individual, combining that information with convenient access to the full range of communications technologies.