title: Is Integrating an ESB (ServiceMix/Mule) Worth the Learning Curve?
body: <p>I'm looking at integrating an ESB into an existing Java/Maven web based product. Specifically, I'm looking at ServiceMix and Mule. The product will connect to several different services, including email, Quartz, RESTful webservices over HTTP, SMS and IM. I've only quickly glanced at the documentation and the two options seem to be pretty heavyweight and fairly complex. It seems like a textbook example of when to use an ESB, but I don't want to spend a great deal of time just learning one or the other system.</p>
  
  <p>Like I said, I already have a web app built by Maven and was hoping integrating one of the systems would be fairly straightforward, even just for something as simple as sending an email, but it looks like adding either will pull in half the world in terms of jars and would be hard to embed in the existing product.</p>
  
  <p>Is it worth trying to pull in one of these options? Is there an easy way of integrating them into an existing app without completely restructuring it? Are there other, lighter weight options? Are there some aspects that I should consider that would make their use worthwhile?</p>