Each edition of Partner Gateway provides the ability to connect to back-end integration systems. Partner Gateway - Express provides file-based integration, while Partner Gateway Enterprise and Advanced Editions provide both file-based integration and integration over HTTP, HTTPS, and JMS transports.
Partner Gateway is the entry point for documents coming into the enterprise. It validates, transforms, and otherwise processes the documents, based on their type, and passes them on to a back-end system that integrates the information with other applications. The back-end system can be a business process integration server, such as WebSphere Process Server, an integration broker such as WebSphere InterChange Serveror WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker, or it can be a customer-developed system.
In this illustration, the back-end integration system is WebSphere InterChange Server. A document intended for WebSphere InterChange Server (ICS) can be sent to Partner Gateway by a community participant in a variety of formats such as XML, EDI, RosettaNet, or binary. Partner Gateway can send the document (after transformation, if necessary) to ICS through the HTTP or JMS transport protocol.
Integration with back-end systems is described in more detail in the Enterprise Integration Guide.