Michael Meehan

For some large companies, the need to tie together incompatible systems has grown to the point that the main mission of their IT departments is changing from application development to integration.

The scandal surrounding Arthur Andersen LLP's handling of Enron Corp.'s finances could lead to the breakup of fully integrated consulting firms, putting more than a billion dollars of IT services work up for grabs, according to a Gartner Inc. report.

For some large companies, the need to tie together incompatible systems has grown to the point that the main mission of their IT departments is changing from application development to integration.

Having found electronic purchasing doesn

In response to calls for help from IT managers trying to head off network gridlock, vendors of management tools are rolling out software that can monitor application performance across networks and on individual systems.

It

The business-to-business software market keeps rolling forward as rival vendors try to match one another with online sourcing applications aimed at automating the process of finding suppliers.

The two B2B exchanges duelling for predominance in the retail industry are calling a truce to encourage content providers representing more than 12,000 manufacturers to adopt a common set of data standards.