IBM has announced an expansion of its WebSphere Portal software portfolio with the availability of two additional business-ready packages -- called accelerators -- that can be added to a customer's portal to drive online training projects and automate key business processes.

According to the release, the two new accelerators provide training, development and education projects through an IBM Lotus Sametime Web conference and make it easier for customers to automate core business processes with entry and integration of data and electronic forms across numerous systems.

The two accelerators add to the collection that IBM has released since April. These include: IBM Self-Service Accelerator for human resources tasks, IBM Dashboard Accelerator, IBM Collaboration Accelerator for team collaboration, IBM Content Accelerator for building and managing websites, and IBM Enterprise Suite Accelerator which supports multiple portal projects, including Web content management and electronic forms.

"IBM continues to see significant momentum from accelerators as customers are showing ever-growing interest in using accelerators to help speed the time to value for portal-based business solutions. With these two new accelerators, customers have a full range of choice to implement projects quickly and cost-effectively, adding value to their portal investments," said Larry Bowden, Vice President of Portals and Interaction Services."