The cross-pollination of the integration and Web services markets continues, with upstart Web services firm Actional Tuesday naming former Tibco Software executive vice president of worldwide sales Frank Bergandi as its CEO.

Actional provides a Web services-based integration platform, dubbed SOAPSwitch, that lets companies publish, secure, and manage Web services.

Unlike many Web services platform vendors—which are trying to build Web services development environments that ultimately will compete with major tool vendors like Microsoft, Oracle, or Borland—Actional isn't in the tool business. Rather, the platform plugs into an application server and works in conjunction with traditional development tools.

The company highlights partnerships with Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle, all of whom aim to take advantage of Actional's under-the-covers integration technology.

Landing a major enterprise integration figure like Bergandi is a coup for the small firm. In addition to Tibco, where he led sales and field operations, Bergandi is a former vice president of sales at Informix Corp.