title: Benefits of an enterprise service bus
body: <p><strong>Where can I find some information on the uses and benefits of an enterprise service bus (ESB)?</strong></p>
  
  <p>I am looking for information about:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>the kinds of problems and ESB helps to solve</li>
  <li>the alternatives to an ESB - and the tradeoffs in selecting between them</li>
  <li>what you need to do as a developer to build ESB-compatible systems</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I'm looking for a finer level of detail than just Wikipedia or online marketing brochures from vendors. Ideally, some example code would help to clarify what's involved in taking advantage of an ESB. Information from a .NET or Java perspective would be the most useful.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks.</p>