Red Hat buys data integration firm MetaMatrix

Red Hat has reached an agreement to acquire privately held data management firm MetaMatrix, the companies announced Tuesday.

Red Hat executives said MetaMatrix's software will be bundled in with its JBoss middleware as part of a services-oriented architecture package. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MetaMatrix, based in Waltham, Mass., sells software for accessing disparate data sources. For example, its tools are used to help companies create a single "view" of a customer by pulling information from several different databases.

Red Hat said it plans to change MetaMatrix's business model to align it with the Linux seller's open-source structure. It will move pricing for MetaMatrix products to a subscription model, rather than an upfront one-time license.

Red Hat intends to make all the MetaMatrix software available under an open-source license within a year, said Tim Yeaton, senior vice president of enterprise solutions at Red Hat.

The company also detailed its initiatives to appeal to both software programmers and corporate customers.

Red Hat on Tuesday launched a revamped open-source Web site at JBoss.org that is aimed specifically at developers who participate in open-source projects.

The company also created integrated packages of different JBoss products aimed at corporate customers who want stable software distributions and multiyear support contracts, rather than rapidly updated products.

The first package will include the JBoss application server, Hibernate data-access software, clustering and its Seam Web development tools.

Later in the year, Red Hat will release a JBoss integration package that will include its JBoss ESB, said Shaun Connolly, vice president of product management.