IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Authoring services in Integration Designer > Services and service-related functions > Access external services with adapters > Configure and using adapters > IBM WebSphere Adapters > Email

Overview of WebSphere Adapter for Email

With WebSphere Adapter for Email, you can create integrated processes that can exchange information using email, without special coding.

For example, you can use the adapter to send general broadcast e-mails to a group of addresses or to send a notification email to a single address that an action has taken place, such as a customer record update in a database. The adapter can also forward information received in an email message to IBM BPM or WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus and use it to initiate a service (for example, to initiate a customer record update).

Suppose a company uses email as its principal communication tool for most of its business operations. A new product is coming out and the marketing team wants to notify all of their IBM Business Partners before information is made available to the public. You can use WebSphere Adapter for Email to send an email broadcasting the new release date to a large group of email addresses. Or, imagine that a customer sends an email to a company to notify it that their address has changed. In this case, you can use the adapter to send the address change request to an application that tracks addresses, and then returns an email to the customer with notification that the address change request is complete.

The adapter is imported and configured in a module that is created in IBM Integration Designer and deployed to IBM BPM or WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus. After the configuration is completed, the adapter acts like a service provider in part of a SOA implementation, providing operations to send and receive emails. Client applications interact with the module instead of directly with the mail server. This configuration enables the authentication details (such as user name and password) that you provide when you set up a module to be shielded from the client applications and services outside of the module. The adapter exposes a service interface that hides the mechanics of how the data or operations are obtained or used.

The benefit of creating the module with the external service wizard in IBM Integration Designer is that it becomes a reusable unit that can perform a specific inbound or outbound service. Each module uses a consistent interface and standard business objects, so that the applications consuming the service do not have to understand the lower-level details of the mail server.

WebSphere Adapter for Email documentation