JBoss® Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to explore enhanced interoperability between their respective JBoss Enterprise Middleware System (JEMS™) and Microsoft® Windows Server™ products and deepen JBoss support for the Windows Server operating system.

While the two companies will continue to compete for software developers with their respective Java and Microsoft .NET offerings, the companies are exploring opportunities to improve interoperability and ensure an optimized experience for customers using JBoss on the Windows Server platform. The cooperative effort seeks to provide customers with richer functionality and better integration, resulting in a lower cost of ownership.

The technology engagement between the two companies is expected to include technical assistance and architectural guidance on the following features:
•    Microsoft Active Directory®. Integrated sign on and federated identity
•    Web services. Interoperability using WS-* Web services architecture
•    Management. A Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager
•    SQL Server™. Optimized performance for users of Hibernate, JBoss’ object/relational mapping technology, and Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0

“JBoss is experiencing tremendous growth and is a driving force of consolidation of the Java space,” said Bill Hilf, director of platform technology strategy at Microsoft. “So it makes sense to work with them on interoperability and optimizing for the Windows Server platform.”

“Our alliance with Microsoft underscores JBoss’ long-standing focus on fulfilling customer demand,” said Shaun Connolly, vice president of product management at JBoss. “With nearly half our customer base deploying JEMS on Windows Server, either solely or in conjunction with other platforms, it makes sense for us to provide the best experience possible for our mutual customers.”

“We recently assisted Swedish Medical Center with our physician portal solution, FirstGateways™, which included JBoss Enterprise Middleware System (JEMS) on the Windows® platform,” said Dale Will, director of Product Development for FCG, a leading provider of outsourcing, consulting, systems implementation and integration for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and life sciences organizations. “Increased cooperation between Microsoft and JBoss is a great thing from our perspective because it allows us to take advantage of the increased reliability and simplified administration available on the Windows platform, while addressing the challenges facing customers running mixed environments.”