Exchanging information between different applications in order to integrate business processes is a common task for any enterprise. However, the requirements given by different organizations reflect different needs. Let's discuss one aspect of reliability. The question that seems very important is how much data can you afford to lose? Well, our initial reaction is, None! However, after some thinking, we realize that this is not necessarily true. Take an e-commerce system, for example. What if the customers don't receive all items in the catalog due to some network problems? Will the business be ruined?

No, especially if the catalog has hundreds or thousands of items. Certainly, if the catalog search system returns just 50 percent of all items, then that would create a problem. However, if it returns 99 percent of items, the majority of the users will be satisfied.

However, there are industries that cannot afford losing even one percent of information. Financial...