This topic describes different ways you can integrate Microsoft Dynamics AX with other applications and exchange data. For general information on system architecture, see System architecture.

You can use a variety of technologies to integrate Microsoft Dynamics AX with applications and to exchange data. These technologies include the following:

• Application Integration Framework (AIF)– AIF provides a programming model, tools and infrastructure support for XML-based integration of application functionality and data with Microsoft Dynamics AX. AIF enables Microsoft Dynamics AX to expose its functionality via services and documents based on the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). AIF also enables Microsoft Dynamics AX to consume functionality exposed by external applications through Web services.

• Business Connector– Business Connector enables external applications to access Microsoft Dynamics AX data and invoke business logic.

• CLR Interop (common language runtime interoperability)– CLR Interop provides interoperability with external .NET components and enables you to execute managed-code components from within X++ code.

The integration components in all these methods interact with Microsoft Dynamics AX through the Application Object Server (AOS), as shown in the following figure.