Camel is an integration framework that aims to make your integration projects productive and fun. The Camel project was started in early 2007, but although it’s relatively young, Camel is already a mature open source project, available under the liberal Apache 2 license, and it has a strong community. Camel’s focus is on simplifying integration. We’re confident that by the time you finish reading these pages, you’ll appreciate Camel and add it to your “must have” list of tools. The Apache Camel project was named Camel simply b ecause the name is short and easy to remember. Rumor has it the name may be inspired by the fact that one of the founders once smoked Camel cigarettes. At the Camel website a FAQ entry (http://camel.apache.org/why-the-name-camel.html) lists other lighthearted reasons for the name.