JBoss and MySQL try cooperation
Published: 21 Jan 2004 14:20 GMT
Open-source software companies JBoss Group and MySQL are forming a partnership to jointly sell and market products to large corporate customers interested in expanding their use of open-source software.
The two companies are expected to disclose their agreement on Wednesday at the LinuxWorld conference in New York. Both companies also are announcing this week enhancements to their respective product lines.
The partnership between the two companies involves closer technical coordination and expanded efforts to market JBoss' Java server software and the MySQL database.
Linux has become a widely used alternative to Unix and Windows Server operating systems. JBoss and MySQL are intent on promoting the use of open-source software in Java server software and databases.
The two companies develop free software and charge customers for consulting services and support. JBoss calls this business model "professional open source."
"We're starting to see larger customers making more strategic decisions around utilising professional open source," said Bob Bickel, vice president of strategy and corporate development at JBoss. The goal of the alliance is to target top information technology executives who are considering wider use of open-source software in their corporations, he added.
Software company Red Hat also is expanding its product line beyond Linux, planning to sell services based on an open-source Java application server later this year.
JBoss and MySQL already have worked on joint sales calls, and executives from both companies communicate regularly, Bickel said.
On a technical level, the partnership should mean easier installation and up-to-date versions of tools that rely on the other company's software, company executives said.
Both JBoss and MySQL are enjoying rapid growth and have made inroads into the commercial software market, in large part by appealing to software developers.
As previously reported, JBoss has expanded the software that it provides services for to include other Java-based open-source projects. On Tuesday, the company said it will offer support for Nukes, an open-source content management system.
MySQL, meanwhile, is announcing a partnership with Zend to improve the integration between Zend's development tools and the MySQL database. MySQL also will introduce a graphical tool to simplify database administration, which will be offered for free or for an ongoing service fee, said Zack Urlocker, vice president of marketing at MySQL.
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