SpringSource Acquires Hyperic, Focuses On Moving Deeper Into Enterprise Software Stacks
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Today, SpringSource, which makes the Spring Framework, the leading open source application framework for Java, announced that it has acquired Hyperic, which supplies enterprise application management and monitoring software. The move could lead to much deeper entrechment for SpringSource in enterprises, because Hyperic's flagship Hyperic HQ software troubleshoots and monitors hardware, networks, virtualization, cloud environments and massively scalable applications.
Hyperic's open source software is used for monitoring large enterprise MySQL deployments, among other things. Many retail, financial services, manufacturing and technology companies already use SpringSource to manage the lifecyles of Java applications. But With Hyperic under its wing, SpringSource can potentially start to manage many more critical aspects of enterprise networks, and ambitious cloud applications.
In an interview we did with Hyperic last year, Stacey Schneider, Senior Director of Marketing, said that Hyperic's software "auto-discovers and starts monitoring key performance metrics across the majority of the components companies use to build their web applications." Java applications are only a subset of what is monitored. Hyperic's technology is also designed to perform monitoring tasks that go beyond server virtualization and into the cloud. Schneider made the point that in her opinion "only about 2 percent of companies" are adequately addressing virtualization. She added that in the cloud:
"...All the hardware is virtualized. The rates of change in those environments are enormous, and many of the virtualization technologies developed to power them obfuscate critical relationships between the various layers powering applications. Without clear visibility, admins are at an unprecedented disadvantage to meeting their SLAs."
Matt Asay makes the point that the acquisition means that SpringSource can compete directly with Microsoft and IBM. Those companies control both development tools and environments, and management and monitoring applications--as SpringSource now does. He also supplies a key quote from Javier Soltero, CEO of Hyperic, where he says:
"This is more than a marriage of code. It's about merging the best people in IT management with the best in Java application development. It gives us broader and deeper visibility up and down the software stack and across a company's network and data center, including virtualization and cloud computing environments."
Both in the cloud and in on-premise application deployments, Hyperic's technology should help SpringSource compete with large, proprietary players--that's true. I also think that with Hyperic, SpringSource has the potential to grow along with key initiatives from big proprietary software companies. As just one example, Hyperic's software is widely used to monitor and manage many large-scale MySQL deployments. If Oracle spreads the reach of MySQL, SpringSource could spread its reach in monitoring, managing and scaling deployments.
SpringSource and Hyperic were already partners before this acquisition. I'm betting that they'll work together smoothly and gain a lot of traction in enterprises and IT departments. Along with Oracle's big acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Â this latest acquisition also reminds me of a prediction I made at the end of last year: This year, we're going to see lots of increased action in open source M&A.
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