Web corporate portal

update IBM on Tuesday said it acquired privately held start-up Gluecode Software, a company that offers a low-end, open-source alternative to IBM's WebSphere line. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Based in El Segundo, Calif., Gluecode sells corporate customers services around a suite of open-source software developed at the Apache Foundation. The company offers small and midsize businesses subcription-based support and updates for a suite of Java server products, called Joe. As part of the acquisition, IBM said it will contribute to the Apache Geronimo project, a Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application server that forms the basis of Gluecode's product line. ***

update Microsoft and business software giant SAP on Wednesday announced a wide-ranging agreement to integrate their products using Web services. The deal, which calls for better links between Microsoft's .Net development software and SAP's NetWeaver integration server, could help big companies more easily tie their SAP business applications to Microsoft Office and other Windows-based software, Microsoft executives said. The agreement came at SAP's Sapphire user conference in New Orleans on Wednesday. It extends an existing 10-year partnership between the companies, but deepens the technical integration between their products. Microsoft and SAP will now cross-license their intellectual property and participate in cross-marketing and sales calls. In addition, Microsoft's tools can now be used to build extensions to SAP's software. The deal should help both companies, an analyst said. ***

IBM released on Wednesday a set of tools to promote the use of its WebSphere portal software within corporations and by business partners. The company has launched Collaboration Center, a set of applications designed to make it easier for people to communicate with co-workers via tools such as instant messaging and shared documents. IBM is also filling out its line of development tools for building portlets, or applications that run in a corporate portal. A portal provides business users with a Web browser-based, consolidated view of information from multiple applications. Collaboration Center, which IBM demonstrated at its Lotusphere conference earlier this year, is part of the Lotus division?s plan to rewrite its applications in Java. The plan, which IBM calls its ***