SpringSource today announced that it has acquired Hyperic, expanding its reach into the datacenter and application management space. At SpringOne last month, SpringSource unveiled the SpringSource tc server, an Apache Tomcat retrofit that adds enterprise capabilities to the web server such as application management, server configuration, and advanced server diagnostics. 

With today's announcement, SpringSource deepens its runtime portfolio -- Hyperic's open source, web application performance management software manages and monitors the availability of everything from hardware and operating systems, to virtual machines, databases, and application servers.  Today's acquisition brings numerous Fortune 1000, SaaS and consumer web companies into the SpringSource customer base.

The Hyperic acquisition completes SpringSource's vision to provide a complete end-to-end solution and positions the company to go head-to-head with other paltform players like of IBM and Microsoft, according to CNET's Matt Asay. 

“SpringSource is taking responsibility for streamlining enterprise Java to fully cater to the needs of developers, IT administrators and operators who create, deploy and manage business-critical applications,” said Rod Johnson, SpringSource CEO. “The acquisition of Hyperic enables SpringSource to provide a complete, proven suite of lean application infrastructure software products that enable enterprises to accelerate the build, run, and manage application lifecycle within the data center, virtual, or cloud computing environments.”

SpringSource has come a long way from its development roots and focus on the Spring Framework to becoming a serious contender in the application platform space. What are your thoughts on the evolution of the company? Is it heading in the right direction?