Iguana X

To Our Iguana X Customers: We Will Make This Right

If you are one of the customers who supported us by moving to Iguana X, I sincerely apologize.

I am just as disappointed with what the team delivered as you are. I feel that customers were let down and that the iNTERFACEWARE brand was compromised.

The Core Failure Was the Queue

The biggest problem with Iguana X is straightforward: the team did not put enough effort into making the queuing system stable and reliable.

That was unacceptable.

For an interface engine, the queue is not merely another feature. It is the foundation that protects data and ensures messages are delivered reliably. Everything else is effectively window dressing if the queue cannot be trusted.

I have seen customers lose data with Iguana X. That is simply not acceptable, and I do not trust the product for production use in its current form.

The Secondary Failures

Half implemented security which is worse nothing implemented at all. The dependency on cloud infra-structure for GIT just got really complicated.

Iguana X Still Contains Good Technology

The situation is not entirely negative.

Iguana X includes some genuinely strong technology, including the new HL7 grammar framework. The development model is also relatively straightforward, and much of the code should transfer cleanly into Flow.

The problem was not that everything in Iguana X was badly designed. The problem was that the most important component was not made sufficiently reliable.

What We Will Do for Iguana X Customers

For customers who supported Iguana X, I want to personally help move your integrations onto a safer foundation.

The process will be:

  1. Obtain your existing Iguana X configuration and source code.
  2. Rework the code so that it operates within the Flow framework.
  3. Build regression tests around your existing behaviour. Flow will make that very easy.
  4. Verify that the converted implementation produces the same expected results.
  5. Deploy the Flow components underneath Iguana 6, using its stable and proven queuing system.

Iguana 6 is not perfect, but its queue has been proven in production for many years. It is considerably more trustworthy than the current Iguana X implementation.

This approach gives us the best of both systems: the proven operational foundation of Iguana 6 combined with the strongest ideas and technologies developed for Iguana X.

You'll be set for the eventual replacement of Iguana 6 by a new system which will work with Flow interfaces.

One by one we will eliminate all the bottlenecks that stop our customers from being successful and we will deliver the worlds most solid, and most reliable and most secure interface engine.

Turning the Failure Into a Better Foundation

As each customer configuration is migrated, Flow will improve.

Useful Iguana X technologies—such as the new HL7 grammar system—will be incorporated into Flow, tested against real production integrations and supported by comprehensive regression tests.

The migration process will therefore do more than repair individual customer systems. It will help create a safer, simpler and more transparent successor platform.

I am deeply sorry that Iguana X customers were placed in this position.

You supported our direction, and we did not deliver the reliability you had every right to expect.

We will make it right.