Enterprise Integration Patterns

Enterprise integration patterns are reusable solutions for connecting independent systems so they exchange data reliably and at scale — spanning integration styles (point-to-point, hub-and-spoke, API-led, event-driven) and building blocks (API gateways, message queues, event streaming, service mesh). The goal is to replace brittle point-to-point connections with a governed, loosely coupled architecture.

Integration is where enterprise complexity actually lives: a modern estate runs hundreds of systems, and point-to-point wiring degrades into an N² web where one change breaks three things. The modern posture is a federated capability under central governance — an API plane (gateway fronting managed, versioned APIs) for north-south traffic and an event backbone for loose coupling, with a service mesh managing east-west traffic once you have many services. Design for idempotency, contracts, and versioning; catalog everything; authenticate and least-privilege every connection.

API security concentrates at the gateway — a specialisation of enterprise application security — and the connector layer normalises SaaS like Salesforce and HubSpot into your model. Delivered via Enterprise Integration; start with designing an API your customers will not hate.