SpringSource Continues Enterprise Push With Hyperic Buy

SpringSource on Monday said it would acquire Hyperic, a move that helps SpringSource continue to expand the breadth of its Java development offerings. Already a leader in enterprise Java with its Spring Framework, SpringSource with Hyperic gains a company proficient in an open-source model for Web applications and infrastructure management.

"SpringSource is taking responsibility for streamlining enterprise Java to fully cater to the needs of developers, IT administrators and operators who create, deploy and manage business-critical applications," said SpringSource CEO Rod Johnson in a statement. "The acquisition of Hyperic enables SpringSource to provide a complete, proven suite of lean application infrastructure software products that enable enterprises to accelerate the build, run, and manage application life cycle within the data center, virtual or cloud-computing environments."

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two companies have been working together for several years, and SpringSource began OEM-ing Hyperic offerings in 2007.

"This is the marriage of two companies that share a common vision for the future of enterprise solutions and the application life cycle. SpringSource is the default choice for many developers and IT architects creating Java applications, and Hyperic is the default choice for many IT operations professionals that need to manage those applications," said former Hyperic CEO Javier Soltero in a statement.

Soltero on Monday was named CTO of Management Products at SpringSource.

"Managing Enterprise Java requires visibility up and down the stack and across a company's network and data center, including virtualization and cloud-computing environments. The divide that separates development from IT operations has just become a lot smaller," he said.

The Hyperic acquisition is the latest in a series of profile-building moves by SpringSource in an effort to continue the company's push into the enterprise.

In late April, SpringSource began offering commercial support for Apache Tomcat, and in mid-march, SpringSource released SpringSource Tool Suite 2.0, an updated tool suite for developers building Java applications on SpringSource platforms. Earlier this year, SpringSource announced plans to develop two virtual appliances with VMware.

Discussion of SpringSource's acquisition of Hyperic on Monday saw many tech observers calling the move a big step up toward SpringSource's ability -- and the ability of open-source business models in general -- to compete with development giants like Microsoft and IBM.

Regardless of SpringSource's competitive viability with those two titans, many analysts at least see the acquisition as another big step.

"The combination of SpringSource and Hyperic will address the disconnect that frequently exists between application development and runtime management. The disconnect impedes development teams' ability to unify and accelerate the application development life cycle," said Chris Haddad, vice president of application platform and data management strategies for Burton Group, in a statement.