“A small, upstart company that gives away its software for free
is threatening to play spoiler to big rivals IBM and BEA Systems in
the hotly contested market for business software that pipes data
between applications.“‘We have turned the heat up,’ JBoss Group founder and CEO Marc
Fleury said of the privately held Atlanta, Georgia-based company’s
challenge to established players.“JBoss, which relies on a voluntary network of developers to
build ‘application server’ software, has won major corporate
customers like motel chain Best Western International Inc. and
telephone network operator MCI, formerly WorldCom. Fleury says
JBoss, which sells services to users of its free software, has
revenues of between $1 million and $10 million per year…”