IBM gets all Webified

SOA trifecta

IBM has bought Webify Solutions in an acquisition giving the giant a suite of industry specific middleware and technologies for service oriented architectures.

IBM is buying privately held Webify in a deal that will see Webify's business processes and integration software integrated with IBM's WebSphere middleware, and its library of business services offered by Global Services through IBM's SOA Business Catalogue.

This is IBM's third acquisition since October 2005 intended build out its SOA strategy. IBM bought XML appliance specialist DataPower in October followed by portal and composite application vendor Bowstreet in December. Financial terms of the Webify deal were not provided, but IBM said Webify's 120 US and India-based staff would become IBM employees.

IBM said in a statement Webify's industry specific tools, models and frameworks will complement its WebSphere integration products and the industry expertise of the mighty Global Services operation.

Webify's software combines a set of semantics with tools and frameworks for healthcare, insurance, banking and telecoms. Integration with WebSphere will allow customers to "easily and efficiently link complete business processes and share data regardless of underlying technologies," IBM said.

Top WebSphere contenders for integration with Webify include WebSphere Integration Developer, Process Server, and Service Registry and Repository.®