E-biz enabler adds federal focus

Vitria Technology Inc., a provider of e-business platforms, has launched

a governmental affairs practice and opened a federal operations office in

the Washington, D.C., area.

With the announcement Wednesday, Vitria added the federal marketplace

to its existing channels of telecommunications, energy, finance, high-tech

manufacturing and online exchanges.

The company already has generated some interest in the $34 billion federal

technology market, including contracts within the Defense Department.

Vitria's e-business platform, BusinessWare, automates business processes

across an enterprise and enables incompatible systems to exchange information.

The company also recently announced solutions for mainframe and electronic

data interchange markets, which are used throughout the federal computing

sector.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company named Jim Hicks to lead the government

practice group. Hicks joined Vitria from PeopleSoft Inc.'s federal business

unit, where he served as vice president. He has more than 20 years of experience

in the federal technology market, including employment at Raytheon Co. and

StorageTek Corp. prior to PeopleSoft.

Hicks said the government practice has been open for about three months.

In addition to the DOD deals, he anticipates more contract awards in the

near future as well as an expansion into the state and local markets some

time next year.

"Vitria allows business processes to flow across an expanded enterprise,"

he said. "We can take one application [from legacy systems, government off-the-shelf

and commercial off-the-shelf] crossing through the firewall into the [business-to-business]

world, and turn it into an end-to-end e-commerce solution. The enthusiasm

from the government has been quite high."

Vitria's new Washington-area office is located with its commercial office

in Reston, Va.