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 moreInterface21, 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's unlikely that SpringSource used up all of the $10 million it raised in venture funding last May to do the deal.
In summing up the benefits of the merger, Rod Johnson, SpringSource's chief executive, noted in his blog: "Not only does Covalent bring Apache leadership, but our combined company now has significant leadership on Apache Tomcat and HTTP. Two weeks ago, Sun paid $1 (billion) for the "M" in LAMP. Now that Covalent's outstanding Apache expertise and services are part of SpringSource, we are strong leaders in the "A."
The "M" Johnson is referring to is Sun Microsystem's megabuyout deal of open-source database company MySQL. And the "A," of course, is for Apache. Both are part of the popular open-source development products referred to as LAMP, which stands for Linux, Apache Web server, MySQL, and the PHP development language that is used by enterprise companies and on the Internet.
The acquisition is designed to enable the combined company to become a one-stop shop, providing open-source products and services to quickly develop, test, deploy, and run enterprise applications using Apache Software Foundation projects and SpringSource's Spring Portfolio.
Although hyped for years, corporate adoption of open-source Java middleware is just starting to happen, says SourceLabs CEO Byron Sebastian.
SourceLabs on Wednesday released an updated bundled distribution, or "stack," of open-source Java middleware, adding Tomcat to the combination of Spring, Axis, Struts, and Hibernate (SASH).
These open-source frameworks have been popular with Java programmers for years because they help make them more productive. Now more companies are building applications on those components, rather than on proprietary Java application servers, said Sebastian.
"Is not as much ripping and replacing, but there's a huge pent-up demand for new development projects on completely open-source technology. (Corporate customers) realize that for the most part (application servers are) commodity technology," he said.
SourceLabs provides support and testing services for open-source software components to large corporate customers.
With the SASH 2 release, SourceLabs is adding including its systems management tools which are designed to help pinpoint production problems.
The company also added a developer support subscription option for SASH, which costs $299 per year.
Interface21, the company behind the Java-based Spring Framework, said on Thursday that it has received $10 million in venture funding from Benchmark Capital.
The funding will be used to expand the company's sales and support infrastructure.
The Spring Framework is a popular open-source tool for speeding up development of corporate server Java applications. Interface21, which makes money providing support and training around Spring, said that the framework is more widely deployed in a single Java application server.
Benchmark Capital has had a good track record of spotting successful open-source firms, having invested in Red Hat, MySQL and JBoss.
Consulting firm Accenture on Tuesday announced that it has contributed code to an open-source project for Spring-based batch processing.
Called Spring Batch, the software is designed to let Java programmers more quickly write batch applications, according to Accenture, which announced the project at JavaOne.
The project is hosted at the Spring Framework Web site and the initial code is set for release in the coming weeks.
Interface21, which provides support and develops the Spring framework, is also working on a project.
"Bringing together the deep technical experience of Interface21 and Spring's proven programming model with the extensive systems integration delivery experiences of Accenture marks a powerful partnership to fill an important gap in enterprise Java," said Rod Johnson, founder of the Spring Framework and CEO of Interface21, in a statement.
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