SpringSource, the company behind the ever-popular but free Spring Framework, the Apache-licensed Java framework used by half of the Fortune 2000, said Monday that it's acquired most of the assets of Hyperic, the company with the equally popular and open source web application and infrastructure management software that SpringSource has been OEMing for a couple of years.

It didn't quote terms but they had a common investor. Hyperic reportedly just closed its best quarter ever.

Like the Spring Framework, Hyperic's widgetry is used by Fortune 500s and some of the biggest SaaS and consumer web companies.

The deal is supposed to give SpringSource a "complete suite of software products that accelerate the entire build, run, manage enterprise Java application lifecycle within the data center, virtual or cloud computing environments" and a shot at unifying the developer-to-data center application lifecycle.

Whether together they can challenge IBM and Microsoft as their boosters contend is another matter.

SpringSource and Hyperic, which both take a lean approach to what has become Java bloat, believe there's a critical disconnect between development and operations that their combination will address by making it easier for developers to develop applications that are inherently manageable and for operational staff to understand the applications produced by developers.

On his blog, SpringSource CEO Rod says "The rise of cloud makes it even more important to bridge the conceptual gap between development and operations. We believe that our middleware is perfectly suited as the basis of Java cloud technology, and the SpringSource/Hyperic combination will allow us to bridge the gap between development and operations in a unique way."

Earlier this year SpringSource promised two virtual appliances for VMware. Last month it started offering commercial support for Apache Tomcat.

Javier Soltero, the CEO of Hyperic now turned CTO of management products at SpringSource described the merger as "the marriage of two companies that share a common vision for the future of enterprise solutions and the application lifecycle. SpringSource is the default choice for many developers and IT architects creating Java applications and Hyperic is the default choice for many IT operations professionals that need to manage those applications. Managing Enterprise Java requires visibility up and down the stack and across a company's network and data center, including virtualization and cloud computing environments. The divide that separates development from IT operations has just become a lot smaller."