Around March of 2011, I was asked by one of my previous business partners to design an integration solution for a new, innovative application. The idea was to make chiller plants, running in large facilities, to be more efficient, saving energy and eventually costs. The concept of the solution was fairly simple, take the statistics from an inefficiently run chiller plant and calculate what it would take to make it as efficient as possible.

The problem was deciding how to capture the data, determine what it would take to run the plant as efficiently as possible, and then how to tell the management system to change the devices accordingly. That seemed easy enough. Of course, the solution had to be repeatable and easily managed by a relatively small staff. After nearly a year and two implementations, we have a good idea about what needs to be done and how to do it. From my perspective, moving and manipulating the data is an easy task, using Mule ESB (Enterprise Service Bus). Mule ESB allowed us to be as flexible as possible, while maintaining a robust production environment. Even with a design hiccup in the beginning on my part, I was able to re-implement the integration with a much more efficient design and very little effort.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term Enterprise Service Bus, it is the foundation of an SOA implementation. Mule ESB (developed by MuleSoft) is more than just an ESB, though. It is a very flexible integration tool that allows you to focus more on the business implementation and less on the technical implementation.

After being in the IT industry for nearly 21 years, it is still fascinating to see a relatively small piece of software controlling a very real tangible set of systems, in order to save money and even the environment.

I wish to thank my friends at enTIC, LLC, especially Carlos Diaz, for allowing me to be involved with an exciting and worthwhile project. I am certain that their business will be successful and push the industry to become even more efficient.