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SpringSource adds messaging play
Tony Baer
SpringSource adds messaging play
SpringSource, now part of VMware, has just added messaging to its growing middleware stack by acquiring Rabbit Technologies. The ten-person firm is one of the key drivers behind AMQP, an open source messaging protocol that provides a multi-platform alternative to Java-based JMS. The acquisition aligns well with SpringSource's goal to develop a middleware stack for the cloud. Applications deployed in the cloud will require a means of communicating with other systems that may or may not be cloud-based. The acquisition adds another piece to SpringSource's integration strategy, which is still a work in process. SpringSource's move was driven by its cloud aspirations
With last summer's SpringSource acquisition of Cloud Foundry, followed weeks later by VMware's acquisition of SpringSource, the company's destiny has been driven by a strategy to build the Java community's answer to Microsoft Azure: a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) environment that uses Java framework.This week's acquisition of Rabbit Technologies is an extension of that strategy, because organizations that use the cloud will not limit themselves to deploying Java applications. Until now, SpringSource's answers were JMS support, which provides messaging but only to other Java applications; or SpringSource Integration, an extension of the Spring framework for integrating to other messaging protocols. Rabbit provides a more direct solution: AMQP, which provides messaging capabilities that are not limited to the Java platform. It does so with a “wire-level” architecture that performs message mediation functions at the messaging protocol rather than the application programming interface (API) level; that allows it to interoperate with multiple application platforms such as Java, .NET, or legacy. SpringSource's first order of business will be the writing of templates that make it as easy to connect to AMQP as JMS.AMQP originated as a development project inside JPMorgan Chase before it was donated to the open source community in 2006 under the stewardship of an independent working group. The group currently draws support from a diverse cast including Red Hat, Cisco, WSO2, Informatica's 29West, and even Microsoft. It has also found support from several cloud service providers, such as Rackspace.Under VMware, SpringSource has retained its modest, incremental acquisition strategy
In the past, SpringSource has typically acquired companies for technology rather than market share. This is consistent with an open source strategy where market footprint has little bearing on company size. Significantly, SpringSource has stuck to that strategy in spite of the fact that it has access to deeper pockets under VMware. Rabbit was hardly the only company developing AMQP technology, but with a staff of ten people it fit SpringSource's modus operandi.The acquisition is a small step for expanding SpringSource's markets
SpringSource has always been best known for its developer-friendly framework, providing a simpler alternative to Java EE constructs through a framework that abstracted the APIs. VMware acquired SpringSource to become the application programming environment for its emerging PaaS strategy; as such, SpringSource needs to further extend its middleware stack beyond this messaging to add business process agility. For starters, SpringSource's rivals for the same low-cost, open source, lightweight application platform market - such as MuleSoft and JBoss - already offer messaging, so this acquisition will not on its own differentiate SpringSource.Admittedly, in the short term SpringSource has more important challenges in leveraging the exposure that VMware's channels could provide. VMware has stepped up to the plate with a short-term promotion that gives away a couple of basic support SpringSource tc Server licenses for reseller sales. Clearly, getting VMware channels accustomed to selling middleware along with server virtualization is a major leap, but it will most likely remain the principal avenue to the SpringSource's growth.For the cloud strategy, however, adding BPM will become critical. In the long run, enterprises that require the flexible costing and elastic compute capabilities of the cloud will need business reasons for doing so. Business agility is a stronger sell for those controlling the purse strings than developer efficiency; admittedly, that means that SpringSource will have to make the leap to address not only developers but also their line of business managers. As part of VMware, the company needs to expand its sights.
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