The product unveiling features a multitude of integrated products tweaked to the needs of SOA. With the rollout, IBM reasons enterprises need tools to visualize an architecture that has composite applications residing in multiple locations, said Dave Locke, director of offerings marketing at IBM Rational. SOA testing also is a critical component.

"We're empowering the A in SOA," Locke said.

"We've added functionality to help line-of-business people communicate more effectively with the IT people, so that IT can understand what to implement, and help the implementers, if you will, be more efficient and work as a geographically distributed team," Locke said.

IBM's SOA tool rollout addresses the process side of development, said analyst Bola Rotibi of Ovum. "It's about looking at the development process within the context of the business," she said. "It's not just bring tools out for the sake of tools."

As part of the rollout, Rational Unified Process, which provides process guidance, now will cover SOA governance. IBM envisions governance as understanding what teams are doing in an SOA as well as assisting with regulatory compliance.