Integration software firm WebMethods has agreed to purchase Infravio to bolster management tools for service-oriented architecture (SOA).

The $38m deal buys WebMethods tools to create and enforce SOA best-practice
policies so that developers and users gain more benefits from the model and
avoid errors that can degrade performance or create other drawbacks.

WebMethods plans to add seven-year-old Infravio's software to its Fabric
family of products by the end of this year. WebMethods chief executive
David Mitchell said Infravio and another recent acquisition, Cerebra, would
help it "do SOA the right way -- a way that actually addresses real market
needs and challenges".

Neil Macehiter of analyst firm Macehiter Ward-Dutton said, "The fact that
Infravio is being acquired does not come as a great surprise. There is
broad agreement that SOA registry/repository technology is one of the key
capabilities of the service infrastructure required for effective SOA
initiatives and Infravio is one of the comparatively few pure-play
providers of that technology. The likes of BEA, HP, IBM and Oracle have all
invested heavily in a combination of in-house development, OEM
relationships and acquisition to bolster the registry/repository
capabilities of their offerings and it was only a matter of time before
Infravio went the way of Flashline and Systinet and became an acquisition
target."

Flashline was acquired by BEA Systems last month.