Service-oriented architecture (SOA) firm Fiorano has announced a new version of its middleware platform for business process integration, which adds high availability support and a new lifecycle management approach.

Available from 1 February, Fiorano Middleware Platform 9 (FMP9) is a message-oriented middleware platform that allows business systems to communicate asynchronously.

Existing Fiorano software, which competes with products from IBM and Tibco, is already deployed with several UK banks, and customers such as Kent County Council.

Among FMP9's features is a new approach to managing event-driven systems, according to Fiorano chief executive Atul Saini.

"With SOA, companies have been trying to follow business process execution language, but this doesn't really work well in areas like financial markets," he said, claiming that Fiorano's message-driven approach solves these problems.

The new release also offers better integration with Eclipse development tools, and features improved high availability features for mission-critical applications, Saini said.

Fiorano's software is Java-based and is compatible with servers running Solaris, Windows and Linux, as well as IBM's iSeries systems. The software is licensed on a per-CPU basis with full implementations costing from £70,000.