The Linux company Red Hat has acquired system integrators Amentra and is now seeking to strengthen its Jboss business unit.

Amentra specializes in advisory services for companies interested in Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) and Business Process Management (BPM). Amentra has been an active Jboss consultant for quite a while now are currently has around 140 staff in the USA, in places such as Washington, Philadelphia and Richmond. The company will be promoted as an independent Red Hat company; existing partnerships and customer contracts will continue unchanged. The purchasing price for the deal was not disclosed.

This acquisition sees the continuation of Red Hat’s enterprise promotion with the aim of making its open source platform more attractive for businesses. This Red Hat initiative specifically targets competitor BEA; Red Hat is seeking to convince BEA customers to migrate to the open platform. Amentra’s focus on BPM and SOA will help company integrate well and reinforce customer confidence in the Jboss platform. “The depth of solution-oriented consulting services provided by Amentra will help enterprises begin deploying JBoss Enterprise Middleware products," Craig Muzilla, VP of the Red Hat’s Middleware Business unit explained. If things go Muzilla’s way, Jboss will play an important role in 50% of all enterprise SOA projects by 2015.

Red Hat purchased Jboss in 2006 for US$ 420 m. Analysts maintain that the sector is not sufficiently integrated with Red Hat’s operations and view the sector as a weakness in the company’s portfolio.

The Linux company Red Hat has acquired system integrators Amentra and is now seeking to strengthen its Jboss business unit.