SpringSource Wednesday trotted out an Enterprise Java Cloud, an announcement that’s supposed to shed some light on the synergies between SpringSource and the cloud-smitten VMware, which said last week that it’s buying SpringSource for upwards of $400 million.
Seems the acquisitive SpringSource, in turn, recently bought Platform-as-a-Service start-up Cloud Foundry Inc, the source of its shiny new Enterprise Java Cloud, which at the moment is called SpringSource Cloud Foundry. No price was mentioned.
The widgetry lets developers deploy and manage Spring, Grails and Java applications in a public cloud environment.
SpringSource says it’s the first vendor to offer a “self-service, pay-as-you-go public cloud deployment platform for full-feature Java web applications that unifies the entire build, run and manage application lifecycle for Java.”
Cloud Foundrty is currently in beta and works on Amazon EC2.
Next thing you know it’ll work on VMware’s vCloud and in its vSphere environments.
SpringSource means to give developers “a constant experience over both public and private clouds, according to CEO Rod Johnson. He says that kind of unified approach doesn’t exist.
VMware said it was buying SpringSource for an application platform that can be used to build, run and manage applications on both internal and external cloud architectures.
Cloud Foundry is built on the open source Cloud Tools project and is being integrated into SpringSource’s solutions.
It reportedly launches and automatically scales Java web applications in the cloud in a few mouse clicks.
SpringSource says it automates common deployment blueprints and does intelligent, SLA-driven resource allocation with automatic scaling and infrastructure repair.
Cloud Foundry builds on the Java technologies that SpringSource is known for. The core runtime is its popular enterprise-class tc Server product, built on Apache Tomcat. It uses the Apache HTTP web server for load balancing and provides a MySQL relational database.
Johnson says Cloud Foundry lets the user specify the desired application server and database configuration through a web interface the conceals the complexity of what’s going on, “ensuring that the required steps reflect the intent rather than the details and that configuration and deployment is repeatable.”
The whole programming and deployment model is built on open source.
Within the next 90 days, the free Eclipse-based SpringSource Tool Suite (STS) will offer direct deployment of Java applications through Cloud Foundry into the public cloud.
Meanwhile, Hyperic, another recent SpringSource acquisition, has got a thing called CloudStatus that’s supposed to be the first service to provide an independent view of the health and performance of public clouds.
It gives Cloud Foundry cloud health monitoring data.
Users will also get Hyperic HQ-powered functionality for insight into application performance and service levels.
SpringSource says Hyperic HQ integrates closely with Cloud Foundry’s technology to automatically scale cloud deployments based on an “acute” understanding of how the applications are working and interacting with other IT resources.
That makes Cloud Foundry the only cloud solution on the market with this capability.
According to Enterprise Management Associates VP of research Andi Mann, “For companies where the cloud deployment option makes sense, SpringSource has a killer offering.”
Johnson said, “Unlike competitive offerings, our cloud service does not come with compromises; companies can deploy full-feature Java web applications, built using SpringSource tools. C-level technology executives can seamlessly add cloud computing as a strategic option as part of their development roadmap.”
Chris Richardson, the former president and founder of Cloud Foundry, is now head of cloud development at SpringSource and his team has reportedly gone with him.
See CloudFoundry.com for the beta. Normal cloud service provider fees naturally apply.
The company says pricing will be announced after an extended beta period and follow standard cloud service pricing models.
It’s also expecting to extend Cloud Foundry’s capabilities with enhanced cloud management features and other services.
Johnson says they’ll enhance runtime visibility into Spring and Grails applications – after Cloud Foundry is integrated into STS they’ll work on Grails integration – but what SpringSource really has in mind is a “fully integrated stack in which the application framework and application server work closely with the cloud infrastructure to deliver the best possible experience.”
Cloud Foundry is not limited to Spring and Grails applications either.
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