The WebSphere products provide the software foundation for on-demand business. WebSphere started as a transactional application server and grew with customer requirements for software products that deliver a breadth of business integration. While it emphasizes the value of the entire product line, IBM also allows the customer to start easily by using just the functions required at the time, and then progressively add functions as needed. The IBM middleware products are implemented as a service-oriented architecture (SOA), which IBM calls the IBM WebSphere Integration Reference Architecture.
The architecture diagram shows the relationship between each of the products in the WebSphere suite and where they are positioned in the reference architecture