PeopleSoft in its latest upgrade – PeopleSoft 8.4, released in March – included homegrown messaging middleware called PeopleSoft Integration Broker. The middleware acts as a hub for connecting PeopleSoft applications to legacy systems and trading partners' systems, reconciling different applications with different data models, the company says. J.D. Edwards has its eXtended Process Integration (XPI) engine, which is based on webMethods technology and built into the company's OneWorld Xe suite of ERP applications. The XPI message broker handles moving transactions and customer information among J.D. Edwards and third-party vendors' applications, the company says. This strategy of offering it all – ERP and CRM applications bundled with a message broker for third-party application integration – could mean more to midsize companies, which would be thrilled to a have a single vendor source, Kinikin says.