VMware's SpringSource to acquire GemStone

SpringSource steps up cloud computing push.

VMware subsidiary SpringSource has announced plans to acquire GemStone Systems, a specialist in Java data management and memory caching.

GemStone president Richard Lamb welcomed the agreement, claiming that it will benefit both companies and their users.

"Our vision for the future of data aligns completely with SpringSource and VMware, in that we believe modern applications are distributed and require data to be available in the fabric of the infrastructure," he said.

"There are distributed applications, such as VoIP and disaster recovery, and there are distributed deployment environments, such as SpringSource's TC Server on VMware, and now SpringSource is forging ahead with the infrastructure needed for distributed data."

SpringSource claimed that the purchase will help it to develop the infrastructure for cloud applications, and enable built-in availability, scalability, security and performance enhancements.

Specifically, GemStone's data management tools will let customers make the right data available to their applications across a large distributed cloud environment, the firm said.

"Data management technologies are fundamental to the creation of applications and, with the rise of virtualisation and cloud computing, the manner in which applications need to access data is evolving," said Rod Johnson, general manager of SpringSource.

"Cloud computing is a distributed deployment model, and for that reason, caching and data accessibility are of far greater strategic importance than before.

SpringSource recently purchased Rabbit Technologies, developer of the RabbitMQ open messaging system, in a deal expected to further drive its cloud business.