Microsoft, JBoss unite in unlikely pairing

Bowing to market realities, Microsoft will begin working with an ideological foe — open source development and services company JBoss — in an effort to optimize interoperability between JBoss’ middleware and Microsoft’s Windows Server software.

Bill Hilf, director of platform technology strategy at Microsoft, insisted that the deal does not mean Microsoft will soften its hard-line stance toward open source development or become a Java enthusiast. But with numerous  JBoss deployments on Microsoft’s platform, both vendors stand to make gains by ensuring deployments go smoothly.

Expected focus areas for the technical partnership include integrated sign-on and identity management with Microsoft Active Directory, optimized SQL Server performance, and interoperability using Web services.

The deal presents an opportunity for Microsoft to work with a Java player but without turning to BEA Systems or  IBM, said Dana Gardner, principal analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

“This shows that Microsoft is being realistic about the market,” Gardner said. Microsoft has acknowledged that Java is here to stay, rather than focusing solely on its own C# programming language, he said.