Benefitfocus Uses JNBridge JMS Adapter for BizTalk Server to Streamline Incoming Data into BizTalk Infrastructure

The JNBridge JMS Adapter for BizTalk enables Benefitfocus to integrate Java messages with BizTalk without the cost, risk and time-to-deploy associated with an open source or internally developed solution

Boulder, Colorado, March 29, 2010

JNBridge, (www.jnbridge.com), the award-winning provider of Java and .NET Framework interoperability tools, has provided Benefitfocus® (www.benefitfocus.com), the largest healthcare benefits software provider in the United States, with the JNBridge JMS Adapter for BizTalk Server. Benefitfocus is using the JNBridge JMS Adapter for BizTalk Server to integrate incoming Java Message Service (JMS)-based carrier data into its BizTalk Server infrastructure without the cost, risk and time-to-deploy associated with an open source or internally developed solution.

“We had a strong need to integrate Java and .NET applications via our BizTalk infrastructure. The JNBridge adapter did exactly what it said it would do, right out of the box,” said Don Taylor, chief technology officer for Benefitfocus. “We went from downloading the evaluation copy into full production in just 45 days.”

A leader in providing Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions for the healthcare industry, Benefitfocus provides employers, health carriers and consumers a single Web-based platform for benefit shopping, enrollment, management and industry standard data exchange. With an emphasis on simplifying or eliminating paper processes, Benefitfocus offers a wealth of Web solutions on the Benefitfocus Platform™, including Benefitfocus eBilling™ for easy-to-use, secure online payments.

To merge different software systems and build applications that deliver highly effective business processes, Benefitfocus utilizes Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 for its back-end enterprise application infrastructure. In the process of building out its integration infrastructure, Benefitfocus needed a way for BizTalk to communicate reliably with its electronic enrollment tool, eEnrollment. Integrating Java-based eEnrollment made BizTalk critical in the customer onboarding process.

Java enterprise applications traditionally use JMS (Java Message Service), a standard messaging API that enables distributed communications and allows application components to create, send, receive and process messages. Software architects at Benefitfocus wanted the enrollment application to publish messages to a JMS queue, but they needed a dependable way for BizTalk to consume messages and support Java and .NET communications. Benefitfocus only had two months remaining in its software release cycle to complete this significant integration task.

When Benefitfocus’ developers started looking at how to integrate BizTalk and JMS, they discovered open source code that could help them construct the needed solution. They began to build the open source code in a test environment, but soon hit a series of show-stopping bugs. “Because of time constraints, we had to reject the open source approach,” explained Taylor. “The documentation was spotty, there was no formal support, and we faced the task of debugging the code ourselves within an extremely short project window.”

“The JNBridge JMS Adapter for BizTalk Server encapsulates JMS client capabilities into a standard BizTalk adapter,” explained Wayne Citrin, CTO of JNBridge. “We have designed the adapter to be easily configured as endpoints that are specifically bound to send and receive ports, allowing a BizTalk orchestration to produce and consume messages to and from JMS queues and topics. We are committed to making our solutions flexible and easily adaptable to work with any JMS implementation.”

Based on proven success in deploying the online enrollment solution with the JNBridge JMS Adapter for BizTalk Server, Benefitfocus now uses the adapter to streamline other application integration tasks.

For more information on JNBridgePro or JNBridge JMS Adapters for .NET and BizTalk please visit (www.jnbridge.com).

About JNBridge

JNBridge is the industry’s leading provider of interoperability software that connects Java and .NET framework-based components applications together with simple-to-use tools and adapters that remove the complexities of cross-platform interoperability and generate high performance communications. The company’s core product, JNBridgePro, and its JMS adapters for .NET and for BizTalk Server are uniquely designed to enable enterprises to quickly and easily integrate between heterogeneous infrastructures. JNBridge was founded in 2001 in Boulder, Colorado as a privately held company and boasts more than 400 customers in 40 countries. Customers include leading Fortune 500 companies and organizations in financial services, insurance, media, manufacturing and other industries. For more information, (www.jnbridge.com).

About Benefitfocus

Benefitfocus is the largest healthcare and voluntary benefits software provider in the U.S. with 10,069,669 consumers, 326,787 employers, 57,454 brokers and 2,932 carrier representatives live on the Benefitfocus Platform™. Benefitfocus offers a single Web-based platform for benefit shopping, enrollment, management and industry standard data exchange. Benefitfocus – All Your Benefits. One Place. www.benefitfocus.com.