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SpringSource to Acquire Gemstone Systems Data Management Technology

SpringSource to Acquire Gemstone Systems Data Management Technology

Company Continues Expansion of Application Infrastructure Suite with Proven Technology Delivering Fast and Reliable Data Access for Enterprise and Cloud Solutions

PALO ALTO, Calif.—May 6, 2010—SpringSource, a division of VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), and the leader in Java application infrastructure and management, today announced that VMware has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire GemStone Systems, Inc., a privately held provider of enterprise data management solutions based in Beaverton, Oregon. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition will advance SpringSource and VMware’s vision of providing the infrastructure necessary for emerging cloud-centric applications, with built-in availability, scalability, security and performance guarantees. These modern applications require new approaches to data management, given they will be deployed across elastic, highly scalable, geographically distributed architectures. With the addition of GemStone’s data management solutions, customers will be able to make the right data available to the right applications at the right time within a distributed cloud environment.

“Data management technologies are fundamental to the creation of applications, and with the rise of virtualization and cloud computing, the manner in which applications need to access data is evolving,” said Rod Johnson, general manager of the SpringSource division of VMware. “Cloud computing is a distributed deployment model, and for that reason, caching and data accessibility are of far greater strategic importance than before. We are acquiring and will integrate into the SpringSource portfolio a well-regarded set of high performing data management solutions with GemStone.”

Today’s news, combined with the recent acquisition of Rabbit Technologies, Ltd. and the recent hiring of Salvatore Sanfilippo, the lead programmer for the open source Redis project, underscores VMware and SpringSource’s understanding of the critical role data management plays in application deployment to the cloud. This acquisition will further SpringSource’s strategy to deliver the application infrastructure required for modern cloud applications.

“Modern, cloud-centric applications will be powered by a lightweight application platform, scalable data platform and virtualized infrastructure as a service, and SpringSource is building out a portfolio to address all of those requirements,” said John Barr, Distinguished Analyst at The 451 Group. “SpringSource clearly recognizes the fundamental emerging application infrastructure requirements, and therefore its customers are prepared for the data center of today and tomorrow.”

SpringSource plans to fully support GemStone’s product line and will continue to support all GemStone customers. GemStone’s flagship product is GemFire Enterprise, a scalable, distributed data platform that puts data where it is needed across a network to remove latency. Other GemStone products include GemFire SQLFabric, a memory-oriented SQL data management platform and GemStone/S, a platform for running distributed Smalltalk applications.

“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,” said Richard Lamb, president of GemStone. “There are distributed applications—think VoIP and disaster recovery—and there are distributed deployment environments—think SpringSource’s tc Server on VMware—and now SpringSource is forging ahead with the infrastructure needed for distributed data.”

For more information on the acquisition, and for additional comments from Johnson and Lamb, visit http://www.springsource.com/springsource-acquires-gemstone-systems.

Upcoming SpringSource and GemStone Webinar

For further information on SpringSource and GemStone, attend the upcoming webinar titled, “Data Management For Distributed Applications – SpringSource & GemStone,” on Wednesday, May 26, 2010.

To register for the webinar click on one of the following links:

  • Europe: 4:00 PM Europe Summer Time/3:00 PM GMT
  • North America: 11:00 AM Pacific Time/2:00 PM Eastern
About GemStone Systems

GemStone Systems delivers award-winning technology solutions that are focused on enterprise infrastructure usability and improvements. Its products are used by more than 200 large customers in mission-critical environments in industries that rely on real-time data, including financial services, the federal government, online gaming, transportation, telecommunications and energy. GemStone Systems is headquartered in Beaverton, Ore., and has offices in Mountain View, Calif., New York, Tokyo, London and Pune, India.

About SpringSource

SpringSource, a division of VMware, Inc., (NYSE: VMW) and the leader in Java application infrastructure and management, provides a complete suite of software products that accelerate the entire build, run, manage enterprise Java application lifecycle. SpringSource employs the open source leaders who created and drive innovation for Spring, the de facto standard programming model for enterprise Java applications. SpringSource also employs the Java and Web thought leaders within the Apache Tomcat, Apache HTTP Server, Hyperic, Groovy and Grails open source communities. Nearly half of the Global 2000, including many of the world’s leading retail, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, technology and public sector clients are SpringSource customers. For more information visit: www.springsource.com.

About VMware

VMware delivers solutions for business infrastructure virtualization that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes. With the industry leading virtualization platform – VMware vSphere™ – customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2009 revenues of $2.9 billion, more than 170,000 customers and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization which consistently ranks as a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.


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SpringSource, the SpringSource logo and design, VMware, are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of VMware, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. The use of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements made in this press release which are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements and are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forwardlooking statements relate, but are not limited, to the integration of GemStone, Rabbit Technologies and Redis technologies with SpringSource and VMware product offerings, the capabilities of such technologies and offerings and their future benefits to VMware and SpringSource customers. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) consummation of our acquisition of GemStone; (ii) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (iii) delays or reductions in consumer or information technology spending; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, industry consolidation, entry of new competitors into the virtualization market, and new product and marketing initiatives by our competitors; (v) our ability to successfully integrate GemStone and RabbitMQ personnel and technologies into SpringSource and VMware product offerings; and (vi) the future development of cloud computing technologies and standards.

These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including VMware’s most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that we may file from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. VMware disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.