Virtualisation software vendor VMware has announced its intention to acquire WaveMaker, a company that allows software developers to build applications through a web-based, graphical interface.
The deal is the latest in a string of software development-focussed acquisitions by VMware that began with its purchase of SpringSource, the company behind the open source Java development framework Spring.
These acquisitions – including those of cloud messaging service RabbitMQ and data management software provider Gemstone – have given VMware a suite of tools for developing applications that are suited to highly virtualised and cloud-based environments.
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According to Rod Johnson, founder of SpringSource and now mastermind of VMware’s application development strategy, buying WaveMaker allows non-specialist programmers and even business users to access this stack of ‘cloud-era’ development tools.
"I’ve always believed that we should eventually provide Spring-based technology to enable less technical users to build … applications, increasing the value of the Spring platform and enabling many business problems to be solved most cheaply," Johnson wrote in a company blog post. "With the WaveMaker acquisition, we’ll be able to bring the impact of our new technologies to an even larger audience."
WaveMaker’s customers include US retail giant Macy’s and technology consultancy SAIC. Speaking to Information Age last year, CEO Chris Keene explained that the tool allows those companies to perform development tasks with less qualified – and therefore less expensive – programmers.
His vison, he said at the time, was that WaveMaker would allow non-programmers to make fully functioning web applications. "We believe that the real transformational aspect of cloud computing is that people who today couldn’t imagine deploying web applications will be able to do so on the cloud,” he said.
