GigaOM Pro

Summary:

On Aug. 10, 2009, VMware announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately held open source Java application framework and platform developer SpringSource for $420 million ($331 million in cash, $31 million in equity for vested options, $58 million for unvested stocks/options). Customers will ultimately care about VMware’s acquisition of SpringSource because together the two will be able to offer a tightly integrated enterprise and cloud application platform similar to Microsoft’s server products, including the .NET application frameworks, Windows Server application runtime platform, and Systems Center management product offerings. The tight integration that VMware, Microsoft, and ultimately IBM and Oracle, aspire to offer — with slightly different approaches — is critical for bringing down dramatically the TCO of enterprise and cloud applications built on these platforms. This note examines the acquisition and its impact on a brewing battle between Microsoft and VMware.