New York, Nov 19: Sun Microsystems Inc. said on Tuesday it certified two small software companies that provide infrastructure technology, giving the firms a bit more credibility in their bid to challenge larger rivals for customers.
The certification will help JBoss Group and Apache Software Foundation, currently deriving most of their revenue from services offerings, to persuade customers to switch to their free software.
"This takes JBoss to the next level," said Kevin Buttigieg, an analyst at Kaufman Brothers. "I think it could help them overcome some of the resistance it might have seen."
JBoss and Apache provide software that can be freely used, copied and modified to help information flow between databases and far-flung computer networks. This so-called application server software is key to computer networks run by large corporations, who usually buy the software from major players in the market like International Business Machines Corp. and BEA Systems Inc.
But while the two small companies are giving away the software, they were not certified by industry standard setters, which was a concern to some potential customers.
"It was an important checkmark for decision makers," said Marc Fleury, founder and president of JBoss Group. Bureau Report