JBoss lands $10 million in funding

Open-source software company JBoss Group has secured $10 million in venture financing, the company announced on Thursday.

The funding was led by venture capitalist firm Matrix Partners with the participation of Accel Partners. As part of the transaction, Matrix general partner David Skok, former founder and CEO of Silverstream Software, will become a member of the JBoss board.

		Get Up to Speed on... Open source Get the latest headlines and company-specific news in our expanded GUTS section.

Since its founding in 1999, JBoss has grown without venture capital from outside companies. The Atlanta-based company sells consulting and training services for its JBoss open-source software, which is freely available under an open-source license. The company is profitable and growing rapidly, according to executives.

The company's flagship Java software is an application server used by software programmers for building and operating Java programs. It competes with commercial software from IBM, BEA Systems and Sun Microsystems, as well as other open-source Java server software.

"We see tremendous opportunity for JBoss to disrupt the current market," Skok said in a statement. He said that open-source software is growing in appeal among corporations because it is cost-effective.

In its push over the past year to woo corporate customers, JBoss has introduced 24-hour support for its software and committed to ending its years-long legal squabble with Java steward Sun. JBoss is in the process of certifying that its software adheres to the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) standard. The certification is important to enterprise customers.

Last year, JBoss launched a program intended to recruit software partners interested in embedding JBoss products within their commercial lines. The company has signed on some well-known companies, including WebMethods and Apple Computer.