BEA rolls out Liquid Data software

PALO ALTO: BEA Systems Inc. on Monday said it started shipping Liquid Data, a new product that helps users get information from a variety of sources, pitting BEA against systems integration software makers such as webMethods Inc.and Tibco Software Inc.

With Liquid Data, BEA also is upping the stakes in its rivalry with technology giant International Business Machines Corp. and its portfolio of integration products. BEA is the market leader in application servers -- software used as a foundation for building new programs -- a highly competitive area dominated by BEA and No. 2 vendor IBM.

"We can go find data regardless of where it's hiding," said Mark Carges, president of BEA's enterprise framework division, referring to Liquid Data's capabilities.

Integration capabilities are becoming a standard part of application server offerings as companies and technology providers eye Web services -- more advanced integration that allows information to be packaged as building blocks that can be used and reused easily by different computer systems.

(C) Reuters Ltd.