Towards linked data based enterprise information integration

Data integration in large enterprises is a crucial but at the same time costly, long lasting and challenging problem. In the last decade, the prevalent data integration approaches were primarily based on XML, Web Services and Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). We argue that classic SOA architectures may be well-suited for transaction processing, however more efficient technologies can be employed for enterprise data integration. In particular, the use of the Linked Data paradigm appears to be a very promising approach. In this article we explore challenges large enterprises are still facing with regard to data integration. We discuss Linked Data approaches in these areas and present some examples of successful applications of the Linked Data principles in that context.