IBM announced it <A HREF="http://www-1.ibm.com/press/PressServletForm.wss?MenuChoice=pressreleases&TemplateName=ShowPressReleaseTemplate&SelectString=t1.docunid=7934&TableName=DataheadApplicationClass&SESSIONKEY=any&WindowTitle=Press+Release&STATUS=publish">has acquired DataPower,</A> a Cambridge, Mass.-based, privately-held provider of products that help improve security and speed the processing of computer transactions. Financial details were not disclosed. IBM acquired DataPower to help companies improve the performance, security, and management of business processes built of reusable, open-standards-based software components, which operate independently from the applications and computing platforms on which they run. This increasingly popular approach, called SOA (Service Oriented Architecture), combines business operations with information technology. According to Gartner, SOA will provide the basis for 80 percent of new software development projects by 2008. IBM plans to introduce a family of SOA appliances based on DataPower technology.