IBM has announced its Rational Software Delivery Platform 7.0 for desktops, to help developers design and deliver service oriented architectures (SOAs).

The platform features a set of Eclipse-based offerings and best practices to help in the management and delivery of systems in a distributed environment.

It wraps up and updates 11 Rational offerings, and focuses on improvements in architectural design and automated delivery of applications and services.

Accompanying the platform was support from 11 IBM partners spanning quality management, systems development, and governance. Offerings have been validated under the Ready for IBM Rational program and complement server-side Rational products, such as ClearQuest 7.0.

Included in Software Delivery Platform 7.0 are Rational Application Developer for WebSphere Software, Software Architect, Software Modeler, Systems Developer, and Functional Tester.

Rational's Unified Process (RUP) has also been extended to bring a controlled, process-oriented approach to design and management of SOAs. RUP for SOMA (Service Oriented Modeling Architecture) assists in design, while a Rational Method Composer SOA plug-in will enable RUP to be used in the SOA governance structure. ®