Self-service middleware

  Today, Hubspan Inc. of Seattle offers "cloud-based messaging between partners," according to Robert Pease, vice president of marketing. Essentially, Hubspan provides the connectors between applications and data sources so your supply chain can connect with your operations. For example, using Hubspan your product buyers can look into a supplier's inventory to see what's on-hand, cut an invoice and watch the inventory levels adjust accordingly. Cool. But the best news is that you don't have to handle all the gunky middleware plumbing. Leave that to Hubspan. Later in 2008, Pease says, the company will begin to experiment with self-service. Today, Hubspan experts need to work with you to map the connections between your apps and those you want to connect with; but in the future, you'll be able to do the mapping yourself.. Pease argues that Hubspan's 9,000-plus application-to-application connections it has created so far gives it more integration experience than your staff, which is why they can make it simple enough for you to do it. Self-service pricing as not been set.