On 14 September 2010, at the Progress Exchange Online conference, Progress Software introduced Progress OpenEdge BPM, which adds Savvion's business process management (BPM) capabilities to the OpenEdge development platform. It also announced the Arcade portal, which allows enterprises to develop and deploy OpenEdge applications in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) mode. Based on the Progress OpenEdge SaaS platform, which has been available for several years, Arcade will be available in October 2010, hosted on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

OpenEdge BPM, which is not yet available, combines the process-oriented, model-driven development capabilities of Savvion BusinessManager with the OpenEdge development platform. In 1H11, Progress will integrate the OpenEdge and Savvion BusinessManager execution environments with the OpenEdge database management system. In 2H11, Progress will unify the OpenEdge and Savvion BusinessManager development environments. Savvion's aim is to unite the development, execution and database environments of OpenEdge and Savvion BPM in OpenEdge BPM.

While Progress has not stated a delivery date for the full integration, the two announcements demonstrate Progress' commitment to enriching the OpenEdge platform for its business application partners. OpenEdge appeals to independent software vendors (ISVs) that want an easy-to-use development platform that does not require deep technical knowledge.

Although focused on business process improvement rather than application development, Savvion BusinessManager, which Progress acquired in January 2010, has a similar philosophy. It uses a model-driven approach to automate process composition so that business analysts can construct and deploy applications. Progress Arcade gives ISVs the added option of offering their business applications as business process services in the cloud.

Progress' announcements signal its potential to expand the range of both on-premises and cloud-based business applications within its partner ecosystem. The announcements are primarily of interest to ISVs, but provide further evidence of a shift toward process-centric business applications and the growing popularity of cloud-based business process services.

• ISVs using OpenEdge: Participate in the OpenEdge BPM Customer Advisory Program to gain an early understanding of OpenEdge BPM and to influence development of the product.

• Organizations looking for cloud-enabled business applications: Monitor the on-premises and cloud-enabled business applications that emerge from Progress' ISV partners during 1H11.