Coming off of its own acquisition by VMware, SpringSource, a provider of Java application infrastructure and management software, Aug. 19 announced its acquisition of Cloud Foundry and a new SpringSource cloud offering based on the Cloud Foundry technology.

In an interview with eWEEK, Rod Johnson, CEO of SpringSource, discussed the acquisition and introduced SpringSource Cloud Foundry, "a new enterprise Java cloud offering that enables developers to deploy and manage Spring, Grails and Java applications within a public cloud environment," the company said in a news release, adding that SpringSource is providing "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 life cycle for Java."

 As part of the acquisition, Chris Richardson, president and founder of Cloud Foundry, joins SpringSource as head of cloud development for the company.

"I am excited that as a part of SpringSource, Cloud Foundry will leverage the SpringSource product line to build, deploy and manage cloud-based, full-featured Java applications without tradeoffs," Richardson said.

Added Johnson: "This deal was independent of our discussions with VMware, but it was one of the many things about our road map that VMware liked."

"SpringSource Cloud Foundry is built on the innovative open-source Cloud Tools project and extends SpringSource's solutions for building, deploying and managing Java applications to take full advantage of the power of elastic cloud computing. Cloud Foundry, now incorporated into SpringSource's product line, launches and automatically scales Java Web applications in the cloud with a few clicks of the mouse," the company said in its statement.

"This is a logical step to what we've been doing in integrating the application life cycle," Johnson said. "We see the cloud as the next logical step."

In the statement, he said, "As the leader in enterprise Java, SpringSource offers the most complete solution set for building, deploying and managing Java applications, and today's announcement adds a new deployment model in the cloud. 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 road map."

According to the statement:

Early SpringSource Cloud Foundry Enterprise Java Cloud beta customers realized significant benefits and cost savings from deploying Java applications in the cloud. Digitas, a leading digital marketing firm and an arm of Publicis, relies on the service to quickly deploy web applications used as part of scheduled marketing campaigns. Publicis developers can scale the applications as their campaigns see success, and they only have to pay for the resources they need and for the duration of the campaigns.

"When I rely on SpringSource Cloud Foundry to manage the sys-admin part of my job, it leaves me to focus on what I do best, which is writing code and creating applications that meet the needs of our clients," Dustin Whitney, principal software engineer at Digitas, said in the statement. "I have used SpringSource Cloud Foundry for a time-limited, high-volume MillerCoors Web campaign. It was a huge advantage to rely on the service to scale the infrastructure behind the site I built and only pay for what I was using. Paying for what you use maximizes my investment, and I am also saving money by not using time to configure and manage the cloud infrastructure."

The statement continued, "Andrew Junkuhn, CEO at 1234Cast.com, which sells hosted services to help with budget forecasting and planning, sees similar benefits: 'SpringSource Cloud Foundry really solves many of the hosting headaches I have been having with traditional hosting. Automatic scaling, continuous backup and fantastic support enables running a worry-free online business.'"

According to the statement, "SpringSource's tc Server, based on Apache Tomcat ... provides a lightweight container ideally suited for deploying Java Web applications in the cloud. Within the next 90 days, the freely available SpringSource Tool Suite will offer direct deployment of Java applications—through Cloud Foundry—into the public cloud."

SpringSource continued, "Hyperic CloudStatus ... provides SpringSource Cloud Foundry with cloud health monitoring data. In addition, SpringSource Cloud Foundry users receive Hyperic HQ-powered functionally to provide ... insight into application performance and service levels."

The statement concluded, "The SpringSource Cloud Foundry Enterprise Java Cloud service is available immediately at CloudFoundry.com in beta and is free to use. Normal cloud service provider fees still apply. Pricing will be announced after an extended beta period and will follow standard cloud service pricing models. During the coming months, SpringSource will extend Cloud Foundry's capabilities with enhanced cloud management features and other services. SpringSource will bring Cloud Foundry's capabilities to Amazon Web Services as well as VMware's vCloud service provider partners and internal VMware vSphere environments."