The JCA, as its single BIGGEST weakness, lacks an asynchronous communication vehicle. As a consequence, pulling information out of an EIS proves straightforward, but having an EIS send information (for instance data updates) to your system is not currently in the JCA specification.

In another major weakness, the JCA specification lacks a COMMON API for data access. The CCI mentioned above is optional, so no dependable mechanism exists that a developer can use to access data using JCA (only the system contracts are guaranteed to be consistent).

The good news is that most of the current JCA's limitations will be ADDRESSED in the specification's NEXT version, JCA 2.0, currently in development as JSR (Java Specification Request) 112. Version 2.0 will address asynchronous capabilities, JMS integration with JCA, metadata for the CCI layer, and XML use in the CCI layer.

The JCA, as its single biggest weakness, lacks an asynchronous communication vehicle. As a consequence, pulling information out of an EIS proves straightforward, but having an EIS send information (for instance data updates) to your system is not currently in the JCA specification.

In another major weakness, the JCA specification lacks a common API for data access. The CCI mentioned above is optional, so no dependable mechanism exists that a developer can use to access data using JCA (only the system contracts are guaranteed to be consistent).

The good news is that most of the current JCA's limitations will be addressed in the specification's next version, JCA 2.0, currently in development as JSR (Java Specification Request) 112. Version 2.0 will address asynchronous capabilities, JMS integration with JCA, metadata for the CCI layer, and XML use in the CCI layer.