March 23, 2015 - Software AG (Frankfurt TecDAX: SOW) today released the company's top trends in integration technology for 2015. Trends highlight the Internet of Things (IoT) as a driver for increased spending as well as the need for cloud and on-premise connectivity for integration projects, forcing a hybrid integration model.

"The heart of communication from the Internet of Things lies in integration technology and 2015 will be the year its importance reaches new heights in the marketplace."

"Integration is the 'new black' for the Internet of Things, the critical core of tying together applications," said Mark Herring, senior vice president of product marketing, Software AG. "The heart of communication from the Internet of Things lies in integration technology and 2015 will be the year its importance reaches new heights in the marketplace."

1.Integration of Things: IoT is the biggest driver for integration technology since the advent of the Internet. New Thing-smart integration techniques will evolve leading integration platforms' capabilities that include real-time streaming, bursty traffic, high frequency updates and integration software that embeds in the devices themselves, as well as in collection hubs and centralized "brains."

2.Spend, baby, spend: IoT and Software as a Service (SaaS) will drive a 33 percent increase in corporate spending on integration technology in 2015, according to an independent research firm. The proliferation of devices and IoT spending will become the main driver, replacing last year's SaaS dominance.

3.Cloud-only is dead: Nearly 80 percent of all integration projects will require cloud and on-premise connectivity. Because of this, privacy and data security issues and existing legacy applications will force a hybrid integration model.

4.Integration is the new black: Tired of being the "boring brother" in technology, integration software providers will invent 57 new buzzwords to describe it, such as micro services, micro-API, IoT-Bus and beacon services.

5.Pass on iPaaS: So-called neutrality from start-up integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) vendors will become an oxymoron as a result of continued consolidation and alignment between SaaS and integration. There will only be three independent iPaaS vendors by 2017.

6.OData my data: Open Data Protocol (OData) will become the standard du jour, replacing REST and SOAP standards. Mega-vendors like Salesforce have forced this consolidation on the market.

7.Failure is an option: "Fail fast and adapt" will be the mantra of businesses as they try to differentiate themselves through innovations. The number of application deployments will not measure success, but rather revenue generation and the overall impact to the top line business.

8.Unicorn Hunting: Although the promise of business-people-as-software-developers remains largely a myth, we predict at least one mythical citizen developer will be spotted in the wild.

"Integration has its mojo back," said Herring. "While new applications will be at the center of revolutionizing the industry in 2015, it is without a doubt that integration will be at the core of each."

Through 2015 companies will look to integrate anything with everything. Software AG helps to do just that, offering the webMethods Integration Platform, a pre-integrated software suite that enables enterprises to rapidly integrate systems, services, devices, processes, business partners and data to provide new business value and improve business performance.