Hubspan Inc. and IBM have announced WebSpan, a new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) integration platform. WebSpan combines the Hubspan on–demand integration platform and IBM WebSphere integration software into a single platform that can help businesses reduce the cost, time and complexity associated with traditional integration and business process automation solutions.

Companies and solution providers worldwide continue to focus on the critical need to connect and integrate data and processes across a growing number of applications and business processes. With WebSpan, these businesses will have a new option to deploy business community networks, extend the reach of existing application and infrastructure investments, and accelerate service oriented architecture (SOA) initiatives.

“Our clients are asking us for cloud-based platforms that offer robust and comprehensive integration capabilities,” said Steve Worrall, vice president of WebSphere BPM, Connectivity, Commerce and GB Sales for IBM. “These companies are increasingly looking for a flexible solution that provides an easy entry point, delivering rapid and quantifiable business value. WebSpan expands our clients’ choices when implementing connectivity and integration solutions.”

WebSpan is a single instance, multi-tenant SaaS integration platform, which enables cost-effective business integration and ease of scalability while optimizing the sharing of resources across partner communities. WebSpan is available with specific solution packages to meet the needs of a wide range of companies and business processes, with an initial set of offerings targeting e-procurement, demand/supply chain, e-payments, logistics and e-commerce integration.

“Hubspan is proud to combine forces with IBM to change the way the world accesses and consumes integration technologies and solutions,” said Trisha Gross, CEO of Hubspan. “WebSpan can dramatically drive down the cost of integrating systems and business processes while accelerating time to value.”

WebSpan can help reduce the costs of operating the integration infrastructure by providing management and maintenance directly within the integration platform. Its subscription-based pricing also provides a further advantage by enabling companies to pay for the solution as an operating expense versus a capital expenditure. In today’s demanding economy, this “pay-as-you-grow” model helps organizations tackle even small integration challenges by offering an affordable starting point with the ability to expand over time. In addition, the platform easily integrates with existing technology investments, expediting solution deployment and providing a potential competitive advantage.

Organizations such as Visa Inc., who recently launched a strategic alliance with Hubspan, have identified integration as an obstacle to the smooth flow of inter-enterprise information and have embedded integration solutions into their product and services offerings. Visa recently announced its Accounts Payable Automation solution, which incorporates integration capabilities as a standard component of the offering.

“There’s no doubt that process automation and information integration can help to deliver cost savings, but our financial institution clients and corporate customers needed a simplified road map for a more cost-effective implementation,” said Nick Marchetti, head of supply chain management, Visa Inc. “Visa’s alliance with Hubspan has helped reduce the integration hurdle, enabling greater partner collaboration and leading to automation of time and resource intensive processes such as the accounts payable function.”

With its low cost of entry and speed of deployment, the software subscription model is increasingly in demand from businesses in all market segments. In fact, a recent report by a leading analyst firm cites that SaaS enterprise application spending will reach $14.8 billion by 2012.¹ With the WebSpan offering based on IBM technology, enterprises will have easy access to a proven on-demand platform to overcome integration challenges.

WebSpan is marketed and sold by both the IBM global sales network and Hubspan to ensure broad awareness of this critical integration solution to general business customers worldwide.