SpringSource

Accenture, SpringSource team up, but here's the real news

In an example of the real news lurking behind the press release, SpringSource and Accenture have announced that they are teaming up to provide an open-source batch processing solution to the market:

Accenture and SpringSource on Tuesday will unveil a production-ready version of Spring Batch, an open source framework for batch processing. The framework enables large organizations to use open source software to develop customized batch processing applications, the companies said. Spring Batch already is in use at more than 35 Accenture clients...

That's ostensibly the news (though it's really a year old), but I actually think there's something much more significant in play: Accenture is actually partnering with an open-source company, rather than just deploying the open-source software.

Open source is nothing new to Accenture and other global system integrators. Indeed, Accenture uses a large and increasing amount of open source in its business.

What is new is the "novel" idea of helping the company behind the project actually get paid. The SpringSource announcement is the only real record you'll find of Accenture partnering with an open-source company, despite widespread deployment of open-source software by Accenture.… Read more

Now SpringSource is an application server, too

I read the news that SpringSource has named itself the "first proper" Java application server product in a decade, and I was left scratching my head. Over the years I've heard just about everyone call themselves an "app server" at some point (Funambol went through a spell when it was a "mobile application server" [PDF] and ActiveGrid was a "grid application server", or something, as just two examples), and the only two times it made sense to me (in the open-source context) were with JBoss and Geronimo.

How did SpringSource become an application server? I thought it was a framework.

So, apparently, does Marc Fleury, who had some blunt counsel for SpringSource's founder, Rod Johnson:

To me this is a VC driven move. Spring is a natural consultancy, being a development framework, but they have been struggling with their sales in the runtime. So voila, we now have a box drawn around an OSGi kernel, the Spring framework and Hibernate/Tomcat, and it has a name: it's an application server. It is the same thing you had yesterday for free, except it is now under the GPL and a proprietary subscription license.… Read more

What's really going on at JBoss?

Oddly enough, the answer to that question ("What's really going on with JBoss?") is probably best answered by someone outside Red Hat: Marc Fleury. Marc isn't shackled by the need to keep corporate secrets, though perhaps he's a little biased.

Marc offers several data points that suggest that JBoss adoption and monetization is "going through the roof." But he also takes on two potential aspirants to the JBoss throne: Ruby on Rails and SpringSource (I've sanitized Marc's comments to suit my Puritan sensibilities):… Read more

Open-source toolmaker acquires Covalent

Interface21, which now goes by SpringSource, is looking to add a little bounce to its business by buying fellow open-source company Covalent Technologies.

SpringSource, which announced the acquisition Tuesday, develops a popular open-source tool called Spring Framework designed to help accelerate the development of Java applications for enterprise servers.

With the acquisition, SpringSource is looking to build on Covalent's products and services that target Apache Software Foundation open-source projects, such as the Apache Tomcat Application Server and Apache Geronimo Application Server. Both companies derive revenues from selling support services.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. But it'… Read more

When open source eats itself: SpringSource acquires Covalent

Ostensibly, SpringSource today announced the acquisition of Covalent to beef up its support for the Apache-sponsored project Tomcat. The problem with such thinking is that if this is the real reason, SpringSource got very little for its money.

There's no doubt that Spring+Apache is a recipe for success. In my own experience, I've seen widespread adoption of both, and often together (not the least being within the product my company, Alfresco, ships). Rod Johnson, CEO and founder of SpringSource, states:

We see Apache code being used by many of our customer accounts--the Apache Web server, Tomcat, Web services frameworks, Active MQ and a slew of other Apache technologies. We see pent-up demand for services from folks using Spring and Apache technologies.

It's unclear how an acquisition furthers this, since the best that SpringSource has acquired is a few developers associated with the project, but not the project itself.… Read more