Middleware competitors IBM and BEA Systems unveiled separate integration offerings last week, each aimed at reducing the complexity of systems integration projects.

IBM focused on adding business process management (BPM) features to its integration suite, so customers could model and monitor business operations. BEA set out to improve developer productivity by providing a common set of development tools for its WebLogic platform, which includes application server, portal, enterprise application integration (EAI) and workflow software.

IBM's additions fill out its WebSphere Business Integration portfolio. New features let users model and simulate how business processes will flow across a company, then extend those processes across supplier and customer systems, and monitor their execution, IBM says.

The suite includes two new modules derived from IBM's September acquisition of Holosofx: WebSphere Business Integration Modeler tackles business process modeling; WebSphere Business Integration Monitor keeps track of operations and includes alerting features to warn users when metrics cross certain thresholds.

Combining application integration technology and BPM features in a single platform appeals to Food Lion, says Carolyn Hager, manager of e-business at the Salisbury, N.C., grocery retailer.

"When the entire package comes from one vendor, you have a level of confidence that all components will work together in a reliable and consistent manner," says Hager, whose company rolled out WebSphere Business Integration last summer as part of a data synchronization project.

Food Lion plans to use IBM WebSphere Business Integration Monitor to keep its business processes moving quickly through the company, Hager says. "The alerting system will help us detect and eliminate process bottlenecks," she says.