For its part, open-source middleware vendor JBoss will gain access to Red Hat's worldwide channels to extend its global reach.

Company executives say that the surprise $350m-plus proposed acquisition is due to close toward the end of next month, subject to regulatory approval. In February, Oracle was rumoured to be in active discussions to purchase JBoss.

Although they did not address the Oracle rumours, both the Red Hat and JBoss executives stressed their synergies and claimed that users and partners are keen to see a large independent open-source firm.

"We chose the Red Hat option. I believe the companies sit well together," says Marc Fleury, JBoss founder, chairman and CEO. Fleury describes Red Hat as the ‘big brother to JBoss, in that the middleware vendor modelled its subscription and services business on the older Linux player.

JBoss will be an independent division of Red Hat, according to Fleury. He will report to Matthew Szulik, Red Hat chairman and CEO. "It was very important to me to know that I was taking this company into an environment that was conflict-free where there could be trust," Fleury adds.

Acquiring JBoss will speed up Red Hat's response to customer demand for SOA, according to Szulik. He pointed to the microkernel in the JBoss Java application server that makes it easier for customers to swap in and out the functions they require, an important capability for SOA deployments.

Having JBoss middleware as part of Red Hat will also make it easier for the company to delve deeper into delivering "component-based application architectures," Szulik says.