(May 20, 2003) - IBM announced new industry and Business Partner support for its portfolio of WebSphere Business Integration software. IBM's software is designed to enable an enterprise to adapt quickly and respond to market demands dynamically with increasing speed by integrating the applications and business processes specific to its industry.

IBM is expanding its WebSphere Business Integration platform with the introduction of 48 industry-tailored solutions, each having a combination of software, services, and IBM Business Partner content. The solutions cover eleven industries: automotive, banking, chemical and petroleum, electronics, energy and utilities, financial markets, healthcare, insurance, life sciences and pharmaceutical, retail distribution, and telecommunications.

The solutions will help companies in these industries integrate different areas of their business and those of their customers and partners - automating the flow of information and the processing of transactions across an entire value chain and transforming their businesses to become more agile and responsive.

Demonstrating its momentum in the business integration space, WebSphere Business Integration grew 18 percent year to year in the last quarter. In the May 7, 2003, Gartner research note, "IBM Has Top Share in All Application Integration, Middleware Markets," Gartner said IBM has had the number one ranking in the integration broker category for three straight years.

IBM also is introducing new WebSphere messaging software that will help businesses to transfer information across the Internet and pervasive devices in real time.