Bull and JBoss Form Strategic Partnership

Business Wire, Nov 21, 2006

Red Hat Expands Current Bull Partnership to Include Open Source R&D Collaboration, System Integration, and Subscription Support with Middleware Division

BERLIN -- Bull and JBoss, a division of Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT), today announced a worldwide technology and business partnership to accelerate the development and deployment of interoperable open source middleware solutions for enterprise service-oriented architecture (SOA). The partnership, which builds on Bull's existing alliance with Red Hat, is JBoss' first strategic partnership in Europe to include open source research and development collaboration and demonstrates both companies' leadership and commitment to open source software innovation.

The multi-dimensional agreement increases open source innovation, interoperability, integration, delivery, and support capabilities. Bull and JBoss will work together in three areas:

* R&D Collaboration: Bull becomes a contributor to the JBoss community, following the same collaborative strategy it takes with other communities such as Apache, Eclipse, and the ObjectWeb consortium, which was co-founded by Bull. JBoss projects will benefit from Bull's expertise, especially in security and business process management (BPM).

* System Integration (SI): Bull becomes a strategic SI partner and will add the JBoss Enterprise Middleware Suite (JEMS) to its portfolio of open source solutions, known as "Open Energy." Bull's 400-plus open source software service and middleware specialists will provide a broad range of system integration services including consulting, application design, and tuning. Bull will deliver JEMS-based solutions on its NovaScale and Escala range of servers within the broad range of open source solutions it delivers on its platforms. This capacity of delivery will leverage the Bull-Red Hat OEM contract.

* Subscriptions: Bull will resell JBoss Subscriptions, which includes support and access to the JBoss Operations Network (ON), to its customers. Under the agreement, Bull will provide first- and second-level support with Red Hat providing third-level technical support.

As part of the agreement, Red Hat will strengthen its involvement with ObjectWeb, including working closely with Bull on the future development and extension of ObjectWeb, codenamed ObjectWeb v2. In addition, Bull is committed to working on interoperability between the JBoss community and the ObjectWeb consortium.

"For years, Bull proved as a leading open source software integrator and contributor to numerous communities," said JP Barberis, General Manager of Bull Services and Solutions. "By adding to our long term commitment to ObjectWeb a strategic partnership with JBoss, we enforce the cross-fertilization and interoperability of open source middleware developments. As Architect of an Open World, we offer enterprises a unique capacity on the market to deploy and support the flexible, interoperable SOA-based business applications that will drive next-generation computing."

Marc Fleury, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the JBoss division, Red Hat, commented: "We welcome Bull into the JBoss community and look forward to many contributions from them, particularly in the areas of security and BPM. Our planned interoperability work underscores Red Hat's focus on driving customer value through a flexible, standards-based, open source SOA platform, which we believe offers customers a more extensive choice of technology. As a partner, Bull extends our ecosystem and brings strong integration capabilities to support enterprise-class JEMS-based solutions in the global market."

Accelerating the shift to SOA with open source

Enterprises have recognized the value of SOA in improving business processes and unlocking better performance and responsiveness, but their main challenge remains a budgetary issue. Today, companies must choose between pricey, proprietary, monolithic platforms or "roll your own" solutions that can be costly to build and maintain over time. Through this expanded partnership, enterprises can accelerate their move to SOA through low-cost, proven open source middleware backed by consulting and integration services from a global IT company with over four decades of experience solving computing challenges.

About Bull, Architect of an Open World

As one of the leading European IT companies, Bull delivers open, flexible and secure information systems. The group helps public and private sector customers transform their information systems, applying its know-how and expertise in three main areas:

* Capitalizing on its extensive mainframe experience, Bull designs and produces robust, innovative and open servers, based on industry-standard technologies;

* Building on its alliances with leading ISVs, Bull develops and implements flexible and interoperable application infrastructures which give business processes the freedom to evolve;

* Bringing together recognized expertise in end-to-end IT security, Bull secures data and exchanges that are so critical in preserving customers' business integrity.