Software AG announced the availability of additional security enhancements for the service-oriented architectures (SOA) created or managed with the webMethods product suite. Under the terms of a new license agreement with Layer 7 Technologies (Layer 7), Software AG will now offer and support Layer 7's SecureSpan SOA security and policy enforcement solutions to customers on a global basis. Layer 7 is a leading provider of gateway software and appliances for securing, scaling and simplifying production SOAs.

When used in conjunction with the webMethods product suite from Software AG, Layer 7's family of SecureSpan products can be used to simplify the implementation of advanced security and policy controls for SOA. Furthermore, it also serves as a fully-interoperable Policy Enforcement Point (PEP) for the services governed by CentraSite. Jointly developed by Software AG and Fujitsu, CentraSite is an industry-leading solution for SOA governance used by Global 2000 enterprises worldwide.

"The addition of Layer 7 measurably enhances the SOA policy control and enforcement options that we offer," said Jignesh Shah, Product Line Director for SOA Governance, Software AG. "For our customers, our expanded relationship and interoperability with Layer 7 means that they can take advantage of the turnkey ease-of-use offered by an SOA appliance from Layer 7 without sacrificing the control and flexibility offered by either CentraSite or the webMethods product suite. By delivering these capabilities through Software AG, we're helping our customers accelerate the secure expansion of their SOA deployments."

"Layer 7 Technologies is a leader in the security and operational management of production SOA. Software AG's ability to resell and bundle Layer 7 products with the webMethods suite will give their customers a one-stop source for building and running their SOA infrastructures," added Dimitri Sirota, Vice President for Marketing and Alliances at Layer 7 Technologies.

"SOA governance presents a complex set of challenges, because it involves policy creation, communication, management, and enforcement across the Service lifecycle," said Jason Bloomberg, Managing Partner at ZapThink. "The combination of CentraSite and Layer 7 Technologies' SecureSpan security and policy enforcement capabilities provides enterprises with a comprehensive governance and security solution that covers the gamut from policy definition through enforcement."

As a member of the CentraSite Community, Layer 7 is fully interoperable with CentraSite using standards-based approaches. As an example of this interoperability, the CentraSite Governance Edition from Software AG and the Layer 7 SecureSpan XML Appliance were used earlier this year to demonstrate interoperability of the WS-Policy Candidate Recommendation using the UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) standard. This was an important milestone in WS-Policy's subsequent promotion to Recommendation Status by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).