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Java PaaS Provider CloudBees Acquires Stax

Java Platform as a Service (PaaS) company CloudBees has acquired Stax Networks, the two companies disclosed this week.

CloudBees is one of the few providers of a Java-based PaaS. The company's flagship product is a cloud infrastructure designed to allow developers to write code, test it, and put it into production, all in the cloud.

Stax Networks was actually the first company to deliver a full-fledged Java PaaS back in 2008. Since then, more than 3,000 applications have been deployed to the platform. The company claims that some customers are running more than 5,000 transactions a minute on it.

Founders of Stax Networks include JJ Allaire, founder of Allaire Corp, which was acquired by Macromedia, and Spike Washburn, a founding member of the WebSphere team, and later, JRun.

The Stax acquisition comes on the heels of the CloudBees' merger with InfraDNA, a company founded by Kohsuke Kawaguchi, creator of the Hudson continuous integration tool. CloudBees Nectar enterprise CI tool is built on Hudson. Kawaguchi also joined the CloudBee organization.

Lewes, DE-based startup was founded in 2010 by Sacha Labourey, ex-CTO of JBoss/Red Hat Middleware, emerged from stealth mode in August, and made its first acquisition in November. The company touts its deep technical roots and its mission to focus PaaS on applications, not servers or virtual machines, and it bills itself as the only provider.

"In the last decade, the IT industry came up with the idea of application servers to simplify the development of applications," Labourey said in a videoed statement. "Now that we have the cloud, we cannot simply throw those application servers into the cloud and call it a done deal. This is merely hosting. What we need to do is really redevelop cloud native application server, and we call that platform as a service."

"We've been looking for ways to bring more of the application lifecycle into the cloud," said Spike Washburn, founder and CEO of Stax Network. "We're now going to be able to create a full-cycle development environment for cloud developers."

About the Author

John K. Waters is the editor in chief of a number of Converge360.com sites, with a focus on high-end development, AI and future tech. He's been writing about cutting-edge technologies and culture of Silicon Valley for more than two decades, and he's written more than a dozen books. He also co-scripted the documentary film Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, which aired on PBS.  He can be reached at [email protected].

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