We have already seen many ServiceMix components, both JBI compliant and lightweight. Many of them are available inside the components folder in the ServiceMix installation. A natural query in this context is "Why does one need to develop custom components in ServiceMix?". Often I see myself as a lazy programmer, trying to reuse codes, components, or services rather than hand code them every time.

Going by that trend, I am also compelled to look at ServiceMix with an aim to reuse anything and everything, and not to hand code anything. The proposition looks fine, but the truth is that the world is not ideal all the time. In an ideal world, we will have all the ServiceMix components, tools, and hooks available, so that we can assemble or reconfigure the components to suit our needs. This makes sense in a pure integration initiative where we only integrate, and do not develop anything—after all, JBI and ServiceMix is all about integration. However, since the world...