GT Software (www.gtsoftware.com), a provider of rapid SOA development solutions, has announced its sponsorship of the first European Integration Consortium Seminar. With the theme of “SOA in Practice,” the June 28 conference is hosted by the Integration Consortium, and takes place at the Crowne Plaza, Brussels City Centre, Belgium.

The Integration Consortium (www.integrationconsortium.org) is a not-for-profit consortium of all parties, representing integration in any form. A member-driven community, its mission is to provide a forum for discussion and debate. The Integration Consortium runs numerous successful chapters in the U.S., affording attendees an opportunity to share experiences, knowledge, and best practices in multiple forums. Future European events and initiatives will also be discussed at this seminar.

Many of the conference sessions are themed on Service Oriented Architecture issues, where GT Software has become a major provider of software and services. The company’s solutions leverage mainframe resources, making the mainframe an active participant in SOA initiatives. Developers use GT Software solutions to assemble and publish Web services, developing right-sized composite services from existing mainframe assets with little or no training or consulting. The solution, called Ivory Service Architect, then provides a high-performance runtime engine for executing the deployed services within CICS, zOS, or Windows-based environments. Services can be composed using of any combination of CICS, IMS, mainframe data, as well as external Web services.

The European Integration Consortium Seminar represents the first of a range of seminars and conferences in Europe, many stressing first-hand user experiences. The seminar is co-hosted by the SOA Consortium, whose meeting starts on June 27, and continues on June 28 as a joint SOA Consortium & Integration Consortium event.

GT Software numbers among its clients such well-known international companies as Zurich Financial Services Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Merck Fink & Co., Daimler Chrysler, and Honda.