Services oriented architecture for handling metadata in a data integration platform

1 . A method comprising:

providing a module, the module being a metadata handling module for handling metadata that is associated with a data integration function of a data integration platform;

providing a registry of services;

providing an interface for the metadata handling module; and

identifying the metadata handling module in the registry;

wherein the metadata handling module can be accessed as a service in a services oriented architecture.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data integration function comprises an extraction function.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data integration function comprises a data transformation.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data integration function comprises a loading function.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data integration function comprises a metadata management function.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data integration function comprises a data profiling function.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data integration function comprises a mapping function.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data integration function comprises a data quality function.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data integration function comprises a data cleansing function.

10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the data integration function comprises an atomic data repository function.

11 . A system comprising:

a module, the module being a metadata handling module for handling metadata that is associated with a data integration function of a data integration platform;

a registry of services; and

an interface for the metadata handling module;

wherein the metadata handling module is identified in the registry; and

wherein the metadata handling module can be accessed as a service in a services oriented architecture.

12 . The system of claim 11 wherein the data integration function comprises an extraction function.

13 . The system of claim 11 wherein the data integration function comprises a data transformation.

14 . The system of claim 11 wherein the data integration function comprises a loading function.

15 . The system of claim 11 wherein the data integration function comprises a metadata management function.

16 . The system of claim 11 wherein the data integration function comprises a data profiling function.

17 . The system of claim 11 wherein the data integration function comprises a mapping function.

18 . The system of claim 11 wherein the data integration function comprises a data quality function.

19 . The system of claim 11 wherein the data integration function comprises a data cleansing function.

20 . The system of claim 11 wherein the data integration function comprises an atomic data repository function.

21 - 39 . (canceled)