<s>
Spring	O
(	O
previously	O
known	O
as	O
SpringSource	B-Application
)	O
was	O
the	O
company	O
created	O
by	O
the	O
founders	O
of	O
the	B-Application
Spring	I-Application
Framework	I-Application
(	O
a	O
programming	O
model	O
for	O
enterprise	O
Java	B-Language
applications	O
)	O
to	O
support	O
and	O
develop	O
Spring	O
and	O
related	O
projects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
incorporated	O
as	O
Interface	O
21	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
renamed	O
SpringSource	B-Application
in	O
2008	O
to	O
better	O
reflect	O
its	O
main	O
business	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Over	O
time	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
Spring	O
developers	O
were	O
employed	O
full-time	O
by	O
the	O
company	O
which	O
offered	O
training	O
and	O
consulting	O
services	O
to	O
finance	O
its	O
activities	O
(	O
Spring	O
itself	O
is	O
open	B-License
source	I-License
and	O
is	O
freely	O
available	O
to	O
all	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Recognizing	O
that	O
the	O
platform	O
of	O
choice	O
for	O
most	O
Spring	O
applications	O
was	O
Apache	B-Language
Tomcat	I-Language
,	O
Spring	O
merged	O
with	O
Covalent	O
on	O
January	O
29	O
,	O
2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
Spring	O
,	O
Covalent	O
was	O
the	O
financial	O
vehicle	O
supporting	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
developers	O
of	O
Tomcat	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
other	O
acquisitions	O
followed	O
:	O
G2One	O
(	O
the	O
company	O
behind	O
Groovy	B-Application
and	O
Grails	B-Language
)	O
,	O
Hyperic	O
(	O
who	O
developed	O
a	O
tool	O
for	O
monitoring	O
Java	B-Language
applications	O
and	O
their	O
environment	O
)	O
and	O
Cloud	B-General_Concept
Foundry	I-General_Concept
(	O
a	O
Platform	B-Application
as	I-Application
a	I-Application
Service	I-Application
provider	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
SpringSource	B-Application
employed	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
lead	O
developers	O
and	O
committers	O
of	O
the	O
Apache	B-Language
Tomcat	I-Language
,	O
Apache	B-Application
HTTP	I-Application
Server	I-Application
,	O
Hyperic	O
,	O
Apache	B-Application
Groovy	I-Application
and	O
Grails	B-Language
open	B-License
source	I-License
communities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpringSource	B-Application
was	O
also	O
a	O
participant	O
in	O
the	O
Java	B-Language
Community	I-Language
Process	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
these	O
acquisitions	O
,	O
the	O
company	O
's	O
business	O
expanded	O
beyond	O
support	O
for	O
its	O
application	O
frameworks	O
,	O
Spring	O
and	O
Grails	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
could	O
now	O
offer	O
a	O
suite	O
of	O
software	O
products	O
across	O
all	O
three	O
stages	O
of	O
the	O
enterprise	O
Java	B-Language
application	O
life	O
cycle	O
:	O
build	O
(	O
develop	O
)	O
,	O
run	O
(	O
deploy	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
manage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpringSource	B-Application
created	O
two	O
commercial	O
server	O
products	O
specifically	O
aimed	O
at	O
Spring	O
developers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TC	O
Server	O
is	O
a	O
commercial	O
version	O
of	O
Tomcat	B-Language
integrated	O
with	O
Hyperic	O
for	O
deployment	O
and	O
management	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DM	O
Server	O
was	O
an	O
OSGi	B-Application
based	O
server	O
which	O
never	O
was	O
commercially	O
viable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
spending	O
millions	O
on	O
development	O
with	O
no	O
result	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
subsequently	O
donated	O
to	O
the	B-Application
Eclipse	I-Application
Foundation	I-Application
as	O
the	O
Virgo	B-Language
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Educational	O
services	O
expanded	O
to	O
offer	O
training	O
for	O
the	B-Application
Spring	I-Application
framework	I-Application
,	O
Apache	B-Language
Tomcat	I-Language
,	O
tc	O
Server	O
and	O
Groovy/Grails	O
through	O
its	O
educational	O
services	O
unit	O
,	O
the	O
SpringSource	B-Application
University	O
and	O
also	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
partner	O
training	O
providers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpringSource	B-Application
was	O
purchased	O
for	O
$420	O
million	O
by	O
VMware	O
in	O
August	O
2009	O
,	O
where	O
it	O
was	O
maintained	O
for	O
some	O
time	O
as	O
a	O
separate	O
division	O
within	O
VMware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Acquisitions	O
continued	O
including	O
RabbitMQ	B-Application
(	O
an	O
open-source	B-License
AMQP	B-Operating_System
message	O
broker	O
)	O
,	O
Redis	B-Operating_System
(	O
an	O
open	B-License
source	I-License
,	O
noSQL	O
key-value	O
store	O
)	O
and	O
Gemstone	B-Operating_System
(	O
developer	O
of	O
several	O
data-management	O
products	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
products	O
(	O
except	O
redis	B-Operating_System
)	O
also	O
became	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
vFabric	O
product	O
set	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VMware	O
sold	O
the	O
Gemstone	B-Operating_System
object	O
database	O
products	O
to	O
GemTalk	O
Systems	O
in	O
May	O
2013	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pivotal	O
ended	O
their	O
sponsorship	O
of	O
Groovy/Grails	O
in	O
March	O
2015	O
.	O
</s>
