BEA Acquires Flashline, Expands SOA Capabilities

BEA Systems has acquired metadata repository software maker Flashline, a move that BEA says will expand its line of tools for building and managing service-oriented architecture systems. BEA also announced Wednesday an expanded partnership with Indian IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services to develop SOA systems based on BEA's AquaLogic and WebLogic software.

"Flashline and BEA share a vision of where SOA should be going," Flashline president and CEO Charles Stack said in a teleconference. Financial terms of the Flashline acquisition weren't disclosed.

Flashline's metadata repository is used to manage software assets, including software interdependencies, so companies can more easily reuse software components and combine them to assemble composite applications. Flashline's product has been renamed BEA AquaLogic Enterprise Repository, joining the AquaLogic line of software for managing SOAs in heterogeneous IT environments. Other AquaLogic products include BEA AquaLogic BPM Suite, Service Bus, and Data Services Platform.

The Flashline metadata repository is complementary to the BEA AquaLogic Service Registry product that's used for maintaining software interface definitions, and the company will offer both products, said Paul Patrick, chief architect of the AquaLogic product line, in the teleconference.

The expanded relationship with TCS includes establishing dedicated business practice areas and centers of excellence within TCS that focus on SOA systems built around BEA software, as well as entering into joint customer engagements for building SOA systems.