The alliance is welcome news and bodes well for the future of open-source computing, says Meta Group's Charles Garry, Sr., program director, infrastructure services. "This is a great example of how the open-source infrastructure software is organizing itself to become not just a bunch of components but a solution," he told NewsFactor.

JBoss's J2EE-based application server will be optimized to work with the MySQL open-source databases, including MySQL and Max DB by MySQL, its SAP-certified database. In addition to technology integration, the alliance includes marketing and sales agreements.

Second Generation

JBoss and MySQL are "kindred spirits" that represent the second generation of open-source companies, Bob Bickel, JBoss vice president of strategy and corporate development, told NewsFactor.

"The first generation was focused at the Linux operating-system level with companies, such as RedHat and SuSE, that made Linux safe for commercial usage. JBoss in the middleware arena and MySQL in the database arena are the next level up from the operating system," he said.

"We decided to formalize the relationship between the two companies to make it clear that there is [a] focus toward open-source stack that is broader than just the operating-system level," he added.

"We view companies like MySQL as the next generation open-source company," agrees Garry, who remarked that open source is a democracy, whereas proprietary software is an autocracy.

"While something like PostgreSQL or Berkeley DB are straight democracies," he explained, "MySQL -- and JBoss, to an extent -- are more akin to representative democracies, such we have here in the U.S. It's more efficient over the long haul."

Low Cost

Decreasing development costs is an issue of particular importance to companies, says Zack Urlocker, vice president of marketing, MySQL. "We see a lot companies with an open-source initiative, where they want to get more cost savings on the commoditized pieces of the software infrastructure within their companies," he noted.

Indeed, Urlocker likens the JBoss/MySQL alliance as akin to low-cost airlines, such as Southwest and JetBlue, that provide quality service within a low-cost infrastructure.

Other Alliances

This is not likely to be the last partnership announcement coming from either vendor, and the current agreement is not exclusive.

"What you will see from JBoss is a continuing stream of partnership announcements," says Bickel. "Our focus will be on software vendors who bundle our technology. You will also see more systems vendors involved in this, such as Unisys doing more strategic alliances with JBoss."

MySQL and Zend Technologies, designers of the PHP Web scripting engine, announced they are improving compatibility and integration between the MySQL database and Zend's PHP products to make it easier for businesses to use complete open-source solutions, such as the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) software stack.

Garry expects to see additional partnerships from MySQL. "MySQL is able to execute on these partnerships because of its unique business plan, which provides potential partners and customers with an actual, bona fide business entity to work with, versus a truly wide open development model," he explained.