Integration software giants IBM and Tibco are taking disparate paths to the next generation of tools for connecting and managing business processes.

IBM last week launched software and services to help firms componentise their applications and provide a platform for web services. Its WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation is the first tangible product in IBM's attempts to offer what it calls a service-oriented architecture (SOA). The toolkit lets firms re-architect their applications into independent business processes with interfaces that link to other internal processes and those of external partners.

IBM also launched consulting services to help firms adopt SOA, including Application Renovation and Integration for Service-Oriented Architecture, for componentising legacy applications. IBM Global Services aims to eventually have about 50,000 staff versed in web services and SOA.

Tibco, meanwhile, last week agreed to acquire UK firm Staffware in a £122.8m move that complements its roots in integration adapters and takes it into business process management, and deeper into UK accounts. Staffware develops software that streamlines business processes, separates the process from the application logic, and helps to develop a management framework.

"I think it's a groundbreaking deal," said John O'Connell, Staffware chief executive. "Customers will have less to do in integration and process management."

Tibco, which started out developing software used primarily in financial trading, said the move would broaden its appeal in retail banking, the public sector and telecoms. Development of Staffware's iProcess product and Tibco's BusinessWorks Workflow product will continue.