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Open-source services field heats up

Martin LaMonica Former Staff writer, CNET News
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer covering green tech and cutting-edge technologies. He joined CNET in 2002 to cover enterprise IT and Web development and was previously executive editor of IT publication InfoWorld.
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Martin LaMonica

Another open-source services company is on the block, adding to the roster of start-ups looking to capitalize on growing corporate interest in open-source software

The Denver-based company, called Virtuas Solutions, will offer consulting services, such as application development and training around open-source products, including Linux, databases, and application development frameworks.

This company's founding follows the creation of a number of open-source companies which are not tied to specific products, such as JBoss or MySQL.

Other open-source services companies to sprout up in the past year include Optaros, SourceLabs, SpikeSource and Open Source Consulting.

Will the creation of all these companies lead to a wave of acquisitions?

At this point, it's not clear. But certainly IBM's purchase of Gluecode, which charges subscription fees around the Geronimo application server, has raised the hopes of few open-source entrepreneurs.