WebMethods to buy governance guru Infravio

Infravio, a company with 65 employees, makes a software registry to store information on shared Web services--individual programs written using industry standards.

WebMethods said Infravio's main product, called X-Registry, will be integrated with WebMethods' Fabric server software by the fourth quarter. Until then, X-Registry will be sold on a standalone basis.

An integration specialist, WebMethods sells back-end software to corporations for automating business processes and moving data between systems. It competes with Tibco Software, IBM, BEA Systems, Oracle and Microsoft, according to analysts.

The sale of Infravio follows the acquisition of other several smaller firms that built products for managing the process of building and using Web services applications. These so-called governance tools are important to the process of rolling out a services-oriented architecture (SOA), a system design that fosters reuse of individual programs in different situations.

Last month, BEA Systems acquired Flashline. Earlier this year, Mercury Interactive bought Infravio competitor Systinet.

In a statement, WebMethods CEO David Mitchell said that the Infravio acquisition and recent purchase of metadata management company Cerebra highlight the company's strategy to invest in SOA tooling.

"With the addition of these industry leading products, we continue to capitalize on the leadership that we have established while positioning ourselves for accelerated growth in one of the fastest growing segments for IT spend," Mitchell said.