SOA Software announced that it has hired Wolf Gilbert, an executive from Microsoft Corporation, to leads its rapid expansion into the European market.

Mr. Gilbert, joining SOA Software as Vice President for European Operations, combines strong business credentials with a deep technology background. He holds an MBA from Southern Methodist University. Mr. Gilbert designed and built one of the first ever Java-based ORBs and spent most of the last decade as an Architect for Microsoft. Mr. Gilbert helped design Windows Server 2003 and had a hand in the development of SQL Server 2005. It was during this time at Microsoft that Mr. Gilbert discovered his true passion for Service Oriented Architecture and he helped cultivate this passion in others at Microsoft; Mr. Gilbert was a co-founder of Microsoft's SOA Solutions Team and the Chief Architect behind its Managed Services Engine.

SOA Software has seen extraordinary growth in the US market over the last 3 years. SOA Software sees the opportunity for accelerated growth through the European market and is bringing Mr. Gilbert on board to build European Operations and drive this growth.

"We are very pleased with the way our business has grown through our strong execution in the US marketplace," said Paul Gigg, president and CEO of SOA Software. "Customer demand in Europe is accelerating our expansion and we are excited to be able to bring on board an executive of Wolf's caliber and background to lead this effort."

Customers use SOA Software products to accelerate their adoption of SOA. The company's products provide a comprehensive Integrated SOA Governance Automation solution. They offer lifecycle governance, security, management and mediation of SOA, ensuring the security, reliability, performance and ease of development of service-oriented business applications. The company provides a scalable solution for platform-independent Integrated SOA Governance Automation, the critical element enabling large customers to connect and control SOA platform components from multiple vendors.

"Although European companies face some unique challenges, the underlying themes are very similar to those of their US counterparts," said Wolf Gilbert, vice president of European operations for SOA Software. "I am confident that SOA Software has the right products to address these challenges, combined with uncommon agility and ability to execute."

SOA Software offers a comprehensive Integrated SOA Governance Automation solution addressing SOA security and management together with Legacy and B2B Web services requirements. SOA Software's Repository Manager, Policy Manager, and Service Manager combine to form a comprehensive Integrated SOA Governance Automation solution, with SOLA providing a governable Mainframe SOA platform.