IN AN EFFORT to move its back-office process offerings to the Web, electronic-business platform provider Iona Technologies announced Thursday that it will acquire Netfish Technologies for approximately $270 million in stock.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Netfish provides XML-based b-to-b (business-to-business) integration technology, and its offerings will play a role in Iona's Total Business Integration strategy, said Todd Keefe, Iona's director of communications. The acquisition is the centerpiece for allowing Iona to distribute its back-end software suite on the Web, Keefe said. Iona's Total Business Integration strategy includes supply-chain automation, logistics and distribution, customer relationship management, and collaborative commerce. The software suite uses standards such as XML (Extensible Markup Language), WSDL (Web Services Description Language), UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration), SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), RosettaNet, and ebXML (electronic-business XML). Netfish's flagship product is the Netfish XDI Product Suite, a b-to-b integration platform that integrates diverse business systems and controls to manage cross-business information exchange. Netfish XDI is based on open standards such as Java and XML, the company said. Iona's acquisition of Netfish is based on 5.5 million shares of Iona common stock, about $270 million, based on a Wednesday closing share price of $49.06. The acquisition is subject to approval by shareholders of both companies. Netfish is privately held and has about 300 employees. Netfish's Chief Executive Officer Ravi Iyer will become Iona's executive vice president of market development.