Layer 7 Technologies  announced the opening of its new U.S. federal office in Washington, DC. The office will support the government’s growing need for XML appliances and gateway software for Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Web Oriented Architectures (WOA), including SOAP, POX, AJAX, and REST. To support its federal expansion, Layer 7 Technologies has also selected leading government contractor and reseller of SOA technologies, Merlin International.

“SOA is central to government information sharing initiatives. The Layer 7 XML appliances and software products help government agencies deliver SOA securely, scalably and reliably,” said John Trauth, Executive Vice President, Government Systems for Merlin International. “Merlin is excited to be working with Layer 7 to better deliver government agencies SOA infrastructure solutions.”

Jim Rice, formerly of Sun Microsystems, AmberPoint and GT Software, will oversee Layer 7’s federal operations. The federal technical solutions team will be lead by Adam Vincent, formerly of The MITRE Corporation where he specialized in Security around XML, SOA, and Net-Centric Information Sharing.

“The government is continuing to leverage SOA, e-Government, net-centric and inter-agency information sharing that is creating a need for cost-effective solutions to address performance, security, SLA, and governance,” said Jim Rice, Layer 7 Technologies’ Federal Director. “Layer 7 offers flexible, future-proof solutions that play a critical role in solving these problems.”

To best support classified programs in the U.S., members of the Layer 7 federal sales team hold U.S. security clearances up to the TS/SCI level. The team will market a FIPS certified line of XML appliances including:

• SecureSpan XML Accelerator - High-throughput document parsing, validation and transformation in a datacenter or with an ESB
• SecureSpan XML Data Screen – High-speed XML threat protection, content filtering and traffic control for SOA and Web 2.0
• SecureSpan XML Firewall and VPN - Advanced identity and message level SOA security for cross-domain, B2B and portal SOA initiatives
• SecureSpan XML Networking Gateway – Complex, policy based message routing, mediation, virtualization, SLA and SOA governance enforcement

“Securing and protecting information along with the growth of online services is driving the government’s need for flexible, trusted and cost-effective solutions,” said Ed Koepfler, CEO Layer 7 Technologies. “Layer 7 recognizes the need for innovative solutions and regional support. This federal sales office will provide government agencies with the ability to serve and protect its citizens better.”