jboss fuse vs tibco matrix

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RED HAT TIBCO

RED HAT JBOSS FUSE TIBCO ACTIVEMATRIX BUSINESSWORKS

Core integration technology Apache Camel, the industry standard for

defining integration solutions.

Proprietary.

Integration messaging Includes Red Hat® JBoss® A-MQ, a multi-protocol

messaging platform with support for Java

Message Service (JMS), AMQP, MQTT, (and

more) with multi-language client support.

Separate licensing may be required for

integration messaging.

Clustering Robust technology for reliable and consistent

definition, deployment, and management of

clustering environments using either text

based, or graphical user interface tools.

Clustering capabilities included, but requires manual

editing of files. No tools provided for reliable cluster

topology reproduction.

Cloud Consistent cloud environment for public

private, and hybrid clouds using OpenShift

by Red Hat that leverages popular open

technologies throughout.

Inconsistent cloud offerings with different

technologies. Difficult to objectively determine if

any represent TIBCO’s strategic cloud technology.

Access to software for evaluation

and development.

All Red Hat JBoss middleware products available

for subscription can be easily downloaded for

evaluation and development.

Limited availability to download software and

development tools.

Pricing Available to the public that can provided

impressive return on investment (ROI)

based on research by the International

Data Corporation (IDC).

No public pricing available.

Technology source Open source. Proprietary.

Licensing GNU General Public License and GNU Lesser

General Public License

Proprietary.

RED HAT JBOSS FUSE COMPARED WITH TIBCO ACTIVEMATRIX BUSINESSWORKS 6.3February 2016

COMPETITIVE REVIEW

2redhat.com COMPETITIVE REVIEW Red Hat JBoss Fuse compared with TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.3

INTRODUCTION

This competitive review provides a comparison of technology from Red Hat and TIBCO for system

integration. The two products commonly compared are Red Hat JBoss Fuse and TIBCO ActiveMatrix

BusinessWorks 6.3. Comparison of these products focuses on features that allow messages to be

received, processed, and delivered to target systems. How each product accomplishes these tasks

varies, and in the case of integration patterns, varies significantly. Still, system integration is possi-

ble using either product, and many find they deliver similar integration solutions based on use cases.

To see the greater differences between Red Hat and TIBCO technologies for system integration,

take a look at the bigger picture. Red Hat JBoss Fuse includes JBoss A-MQ for messaging, while

TIBCO messaging products are licensed separately from TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.3.

For cloud deployments, Red Hat offers consistent private, public, and hybrid cloud capabilities

which differ significantly from TIBCO’s offerings.

Red Hat also makes it easy for customers to acquire products for evaluation and developer

usage — and the IDC has determined that Red Hat’s subscription pricing model can provide a

compelling return on investment (ROI).1

Finally, no Red Hat comparison would be complete without an open source discussion. Open source

is core to all Red Hat products, and it offers distinct advantages over proprietary technologies

offered by competitors like TIBCO.

You can read the contents of this competitive review from start to finish, or in discrete sections,

according to your needs.

INTEGRATION OVERVIEW

Enterprises need to integrate their systems and applications to share data between them. Without

this ability, the effectiveness of any given system is realized only by users of that system. When

integrated, systems can exchange data and increase the cumulative value of that data throughout

the enterprise.

Unfortunately, most commercial application software does not offer pre-built system integrations.

Those that do may only integrate systems from the same vendor. Application integration is a large

and common enough challenge for enterprises that several software companies offer products that

include integration technology in their product portfolios.

Both Red Hat and TIBCO offer multiple integration technologies. At the core of these product

portfolios are enterprise service bus (ESB) and messaging technologies, which process messages

in a logical sequence, often requiring the transformation of messages from one format to another.

For every message received, one or more messages must go out to systems being integrated via a

predetermined messaging protocol.

Taking a broader view, data virtualization, business rules, and even business processes can be

used to build more complex integrations. For example, applying business rules can help assure

that message payloads are properly formatted and routed to their proper destinations.

Additional technologies such as complex event processing, and analytics can be used to examine

and analyze data. However, such technologies arguably represent integration targets rather than

parts of a core integration solution.

IN THIS REVIEW:

• Introduction

• Integration Overview

• Integration development

using patterns

• Enterprise messaging

platform

• Reliable messaging

• MQ Telemetry Transport

(MQTT)

• Advanced Message

Queuing Protocol (AMQP)

• Clustering

• Load balancing

• Cluster management

• Cloud advantages

• Public cloud deployments

• Private cloud deployments

• A solid cloud foundation

• A solid and popular

cloud container

• Cloud scalability and the

Kubernetes advantage

• Portability

• Product acquisition

• Cost of development tools

• Developer access to

additional middleware

• Pricing

• Open source

• Licensing

• Indemnification

1 “Value of Red Hat Integration Products.” Red Hat Resources. Red Hat, Dec. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. <http://www.redhat.com/en/resources/value-red-hat-integration-products>.


INTEGRATION DEVELOPMENT USING PATTERNS

Red Hat JBoss Fuse includes Apache Camel open source software, with out-of-the-box, standards-

based integration patterns — the de facto model for discussing enterprise integration — based on

the book Enterprise Integration Patterns by Gregor Hohpe and Bobby Woolf.2 Red Hat JBoss

Fuse supports nearly 50 different patterns in the following categories:

• Message routing

• Messaging endpoints

• Messaging systems

• Messaging channels

• Message transformation

• Message construction

• System management

TIBCO integration solutions are not implemented using Camel. Instead, they use a proprietary

method for defining integration solutions — and people with TIBCO skills may be more difficult to

find than those with open source Camel skills.

ENTERPRISE MESSAGING PLATFORM

Messaging is used to transport data between integrating systems. Arguably, the flow of messages

between systems represents the heartbeat of an enterprise. Every Red Hat JBoss Fuse subscription

includes the ability to use Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for messaging.

RELIABLE MESSAGING

Red Hat JBoss A-MQ provides reliable out-of-the-box messaging capabilities for Red Hat JBoss Fuse.

The product is a standards-based, open source messaging platform that deploys with a very small

footprint. Key features include:

• Java Message Service (JMS) 1.1-compliant messaging, plus additional protocols including

Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) 1.03 and MQTT.

• High-performance delivery of information.

• Connectivity options from multiple languages.4

• Transaction protection.

• Ability to access the messaging system using C, C++, and .NET.

• Streaming Text Oriented Messaging Protocol (STOMP) — a platform-neutral protocol that

supports client access to messaging written in scripting languages (Perl, PHP, Python,

and Ruby) as well as Java, .NET, C, and C++.

• IP multicast, which provides one-to-many communications over an IP network, enabling

brokers to set up a network of other brokers and helping clients to connect with brokers.

• Community-to-enterprise

transition

• Community innovation

• Potential ROI

• Summary

2 Enterprise Integration Patterns table of contents - http://www.enterpriseintegrationpatterns.com/toc.html

3 Provided as a technology preview

4 OpenWire and STOMP protocols are supported - http://fusesource.com/docs/mqent/7.1/prod_intro/prod_intro.pdf

TIP: Developer productivity

is increased when problems

are solved using repeatable

patterns instead of

“one off” solutions.

Do end users of your systems

tend to assume that messaging

between systems will be reliable

regardless of the device they

are using?


TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.3 licensing does not include an independently executed

messaging platform. It must be licensed separately using products like TIBCO Enterprise Message

Service to provide JMS messaging. However, acquiring TIBCO Enterprise Message Service for TIBCO

ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.3 exposes you to additional license fees, long-term associated mainte-

nance, and support.

No such exposure exists for Red Hat JBoss Fuse customers who use the included Red Hat JBoss

A-MQ messaging platform within the terms of a Red Hat JBoss Fuse subscription.

MQ TELEMETRY TRANSPORT (MQTT)

MQTT is an important communication protocol for Internet of Things development and is growing in

importance for mobile application communications. Red Hat JBoss A-MQ includes support for this

protocol but the TIBCO Enterprise Message Service does not. Instead, TIBCO supports MQTT via

the TIBCO StreamBase Complex Event Processing (CEP) product positioned for real-time data feeds

with high throughput. It must be licensed separately and then integrated with TIBCO ActiveMatrix

BusinessWorks 6.3 to send or receive MQTT messages.

ADVANCED MESSAGE QUEUING PROTOCOL (AMQP)

AMQP can be used as an alternative wire protocol for messaging. AMQP is a specification (not a

product) created to enable a reliable messaging protocol, and a fairly complete specification for the

most commonly used middleware functionality. A major difference between AMQP and JMS is that

AMQP was created with messaging compatibility between multiple languages in mind.

JMS was created with Java in mind. To expand usage beyond Java, both Red Hat JBoss A-MQ and

TIBCO Enterprise Message Service have added support for additional languages. However, this

support does not necessarily overcome some significant JMS weaknesses. Specifically, JMS does not

describe how to implement a messaging service — although it imposes significant constraints on the

messaging behavior— nor does it specify any details of the wire protocol for transmitting messages.

Consequently, different JMS implementations are generally not interoperable. Red Hat JBoss A-MQ

does include support for AMQP, and provides the functionality to help exchange messages between

JMS and AMQP sources.

TIBCO does not offer an AMQP messaging product, although it does offer messaging options other

than JMS. However, individually licensed messaging products like TIBCO FTL and TIBCO Rendezvous

are based on proprietary protocols. AMQP, by comparison, is an open specification that any vendor

can implement. This allows customers the flexibility to change AMQP vendors if needed to reduce

the risk of vendor lock-in. No similar vendor flexibility exists for users of the proprietary TIBCO FTL

and TIBCO Rendezvous protocols.

CLUSTERING

System scalability and reliability is critical for production integration solutions. Put simply, there

must be enough processing capacity available to handle integration messages, meet service level

agreements, help minimize response times, and improve system reliability. Clustering for on-premise

and cloud environments often differs.

LOAD BALANCING

Once you have a cluster established, consider how messages will reach that cluster for process-

ing. Messages should be capable of reaching any of the clustered servers, and each server should

receive a balanced load. Red Hat JBoss Fuse provides more out-of-the-box functionality to balance

load across servers than you will find in TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.3, including:

Has mobile or Internet of Things

integration been a challenge?

TIP: Distributing load over

multiple server instances helps

reduce the chance that a single

server failure will bring down

the entire system.


• The Fabric Gateway within Red Hat JBoss Fuse, which provides dynamic discovery, load

balancing, and failover of services. It also supports TCP communications using OpenWire,

STOMP, MQTT, AMQP, and WebSockets.

• The use of standard URLs with web applications or web services that communicate using

HTTPS and still achieve load balancing.

• Monitoring and detection of any changes in the server deployment topology, and dynamic

application of mapping rules that expose those deployed services through TCP or HTTP.

As a result, Red Hat JBoss Fuse can load-balance messages for most communication protocols.

TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.3 operates on the concept of load sharing — meaning that the

work is shared out between a number of TIBCO server instances, if not necessarily equally — rather

than load balancing. TIBCO does not expose load-sharing parameters that would allow users to tune

load distribution between servers. Users can only indicate that deployed integration solutions are

part of a cluster, and TIBCO will automatically distribute load.

CLUSTER MANAGEMENT

How clusters are defined, managed, and deployed is very different between Red Hat JBoss Fuse and

TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.3.

Red Hat JBoss Fuse has a set of robust functionality for managing its deployment topologies known

as Fabric. Of the Fabric features, the ability to create profiles — descriptions of how to provision a

logical group of containers (servers) — is one of the most important. Profiles can have hierarchies,

and be versioned, which allows you to upgrade or roll back containers by changing the version of

the profiles they use.

Within a profile is everything you need to deploy a topology. Profiles allow users to deploy topolo-

gies as needed through environments such as testing, production, and disaster recovery. And Fabric

supports profiles for both Red Hat JBoss Fuse and the included Red Hat JBoss A-MQ product used

for messaging.

TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks does not include similar functionalities. Instead, users manu-

ally edit configuration files — a potentially error-prone process for even the most seasoned system

administrator. This manual editing process extends this potential for error whenever environments

are modified or duplicated requiring the re-distribution of files.

CLOUD ADVANTAGES

Deploying integration solutions in cloud environments continues to grow in popularity. An integra-

tion platform that only works on dedicated servers and virtual environments may soon become

obsolete. While it’s easy to check if an integration product is available in a cloud environment, a

deeper look into the details can uncover interesting differences.

PUBLIC CLOUD DEPLOYMENTS

While Red Hat JBoss Fuse and TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.3 functionality are both

available for use in public cloud environments, only Red Hat JBoss Fuse is available from a variety

of cloud providers. Red Hat JBoss Fuse is offered via OpenShift Online by Red Hat, or subscribers

can potentially deploy from over 50 Red Hat Certified Cloud Service Providers, including Microsoft

Azure and Amazon Web Services.5

5 “Find a Red Hat Certified Cloud Provider.” Partners. Red Hat, n.d. Web. 07 Aug. 2015. <http://www.redhat.com/en/partners/find-certified-cloud-providers>.

TIP: Even the best system

administrators can make

keystroke errors. System

management solutions with

functionality to replicate envi-

ronments precisely can cut

down on administration errors.

TIP: Having a choice of only one

cloud provider is a new form of

the old vendor lock-in problem.


Red Hat JBoss Fuse subscriptions can be used on-premise or in cloud environments, with all

subscription benefits transferring to the public cloud — including access to Red Hat sales and its

award-winning support.

TIBCO public cloud offerings are split over three products. The first is TIBCO Silver Fabric, a cloud

enablement and management platform that runs on Microsoft Windows and Linux® engines and can

be used to deliver integration and other middleware services. Although TIBCO documentation states

that TIBCO Silver Fabric can be used in a public cloud infrastructure, Red Hat research did not reveal

any pubic cloud providers for it.

The second offering is TIBCO Cloud Bus, which is currently available on Amazon Web Services (AWS)

as a subscription service.

The third offering is TIBCO BusinessWorks Container Edition — essentially a reduced-function

version of TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks — delivered as a buildpack within the Pivotal Cloud

Foundry environment.

JBoss Fuse running on OpenShift Online provides consistent technology regardless of the Red Hat

Certified Cloud Service Provider hosting the public cloud.

PRIVATE CLOUD DEPLOYMENTS

OpenShift Enterprise by Red Hat subscribers can install, manage, and use all product features in a

private cloud deployment. Not only is Red Hat JBoss Fuse fully supported on OpenShift Enterprise,

but subscribers can also mix usage with Red Hat JBoss Fuse running in OpenShift Online to create

a hybrid cloud environment.

TIBCO offers two private cloud deployment options. The first option is TIBCO Silver Fabric. The second

option is to use TIBCO BusinessWorks Container Edition within a Pivotal Cloud Foundry environment.

Users should question which of the TIBCO private integration cloud offerings is the most strategic

for TIBCO. In April 2015, TIBCO announced that it “is ‘all-in’ with AWS, meaning TIBCO utilizes AWS

as the core infrastructure for its cloud offerings.”6 Both TIBCO Silver Fabric and Pivotal Cloud

Foundry can run on AWS. However, the TIBCO BusinessWorks Container Edition announced in

October 2015 has only been stated to run on Pivotal Cloud Foundry.

A SOLID CLOUD FOUNDATION

OpenShift by Red Hat uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform, as

its base operating system. Each OpenShift Enterprise subscription includes full support for Red Hat

Enterprise Linux.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 is supported by TIBCO when deploying on-premise and by TIBCO Silver

Fabric in cloud environments. However, a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 subscription would be required

for use. No documentation indicates which operating system is used to run TIBCO Silver Fabric or

Pivotal Cloud Foundry on Amazon Web Services.

6 “TIBCO Goes “All-In” With Amazon Web Services.” TIBCO Press Releases. TIBCO, 9 Apr. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://www.tibco.com/company/news/releases/2015/tibco-goes-all-in-with-amazon-web-services>.


A SOLID AND POPULAR CLOUD CONTAINER

Deploying containers in cloud environments is becoming a popular choice. OpenShift by Red Hat

uses the Red Hat Atomic container image, which is is compatible with Docker-formatted container

images, as its standard container format. This image format is rapidly becoming an industry stan-

dard for defining containers and includes an API to interact with the container. Red Hat JBoss Fuse

on OpenShift version 3 by Red Hat is distributed as a Red Hat Atomic Container Image.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux forms the base of the JBoss Fuse Red Hat Atomic container image, which

provides seamless interaction with the underlying kernel of the host operating system. The kernel

provides system calls that containers use to run — and once running, the operating system function-

ality is layered on top of the host kernel functionality.

TIBCO has not provided evidence that any of its current cloud offerings use docker or Red Hat

container technology. An August 2015 TIBCO blog entry indicated that support for docker running

TIBCO software in the future might be possible.7 The TIBCO Silver Fabric product page mentions

it can leverage Docker, but this information is not included in documentation for the current 5.7.1

release.8

CLOUD SCALABILITY AND THE KUBERNETES ADVANTAGE

Using containers is a good first step for mixing the use of integration and cloud technology.

Developers and testing personnel are often only working with a small number of containers. However,

deploying containers at product scale brings new challenges — such as starting containers on multiple

hosts without having to log into each separately, or starting multiple containers with complementary

technology on multiple hosts, at scale. For these and other challenges, you need a method for orches-

trating and managing container deployment.

You can use Kubernetes to orchestrate integration solutions deployed on Red Hat JBoss Fuse within

an OpenShift environment. Kubernetes, an open source project that Google launched based on its

experience running its own applications at scale. When Google notified Red Hat of their intent to

launch Kubernetes for container orchestration and management, Red Hat saw the opportunity to

collaborate and drive another standard to propel container technology forward. Multiple Red Hat

developers are leading contributors for both the Kubernetes and Docker projects. Red Hat is the

number two contributor behind Google for the Kubernetes project9 and is the number three

contributor to the Docker project.

Kubernetes relies on technology from the docker project to package, instantiate and run application

containers. Kubernetes then implements a declarative model for managing containerized applica-

tion deployments, allowing the user to state the desired end state. Once this state is established,

Kubernetes applies automated, self-healing mechanisms that can restart and replicate containers,

reschedule them on different hosts, and even replicate them for auto-scaling. It is the key component

in OpenShift for web scaling, managing, and ensuring the reliability of cloud deployments, including

Red Hat JBoss Fuse.

7 Waehner, Kai. “Docker Containers in the TIBCO Universe.” The TIBCO Blog. TIBCO, 25 Aug. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <http://www.tibco.com/blog/2015/08/28/docker-containers-in-the-tibco-universe/>.

8 “TIBCO Silver Fabric.” TIBCO Product Documentation. TIBCO, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <https://docs.tibco.com/pub/silver_fabric/5.7.1/doc/html/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm>.

9 “TIBCO Silver Fabric.” TIBCO Product Documentation. TIBCO, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2015. <https://docs.tibco.com/pub/silver_fabric/5.7.1/doc/html/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm>.

TIP: Avoid cloud containers

technology that is only useful

for one cloud environment. Find

a technology that works within

and without cloud environments.


None of TIBCO’s integration cloud services options use Kubernetes. Instead, technologies vary

by TIBCO cloud solution. TIBCO Silver Fabric uses proprietary technology. TIBCO BusinessWorks

Container Edition on Pivotal Cloud Foundry uses Warden orchestration technology, but a future

version will use Diego technology.

Running containers at scale is difficult to do correctly. The depth of experience Google gained over

the years is reflected in the Kubernetes architecture and principles.

PORTABILITY

All Red Hat JBoss Middleware container images used with OpenShift by Red Hat are based on a

combination of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host. This gives

the container portability between physical and virtual servers, and public and private cloud

environments. The combination of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic

Host’s shared certifications, OpenStack®, and docker-formatted containers makes this possible.

Portability gives enterprises flexibility. However, many prefer running Red Hat Atomic Container

Image within OpenShift Enterprise, using docker and Kubernetes, with all the benefits of fully

scalable and manageable cloud environment.

PRODUCT ACQUISITION

Red Hat JBoss Fuse is an easy Red Hat JBoss Middleware platform to acquire. All functionality is

contained in a single platform bundle including Red Hat JBoss A-MQ. Subscriptions run in 1- and

3-year terms and cover 16 or 64 cores.

TIBCO offers multiple products for ESB and messaging. For ESB functionality, TIBCO ActiveMatrix

BusinessWorks provides full functionality with unrestricted usage. Alternatively, ActiveMatrix

BusinessWorks Express is a data integration tool for web and mobile projects only, and is limited to

exposing SOAP and REST services. Integration solutions created using the TIBCO Express version

can be migrated to the full version if the proper licensing is in place.

TIBCO Enterprise Message Service can provide JMS messaging, while TIBCO FTL and TIBCO

Rendezvous protocols can be separately acquired to supplement the TIBCO Enterprise Message

Service functionality. Users can license TIBCO StreamBase for MQTT, but no TIBCO product

supports AMQP.

NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE FOR SUPPORTED DEVELOPERS

Every 16 cores of Red Hat JBoss Fuse subscription includes support for 25 developers working

with the product. Developers are encouraged to use the freely-available JBoss Developer Studio to

develop for Red Hat JBoss A-MQ and all other products in the Red Hat JBoss Middleware portfolio.

TIBCO does not provide a free development environment for TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks or

for the multiple messaging products. TIBCO Business Studio is available as a 30-day evaluation, but

must be licensed for any other use.

DEVELOPER ACCESS TO ADDITIONAL MIDDLEWARE

Your Red Hat JBoss Fuse subscription gives you development rights to all Red Hat JBoss Middleware

platforms. Specifically, every 16 cores of a Red Hat Middleware subscription gives 25 developers

development rights to all Red Hat JBoss Middleware platforms. As a result, developers can easily

explore how other Red Hat JBoss Middleware products, such as Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization,

Red Hat JBoss BRMS, Red Hat JBoss BPM Suite, and others that complement Red Hat JBoss Fuse.

TIP: Open access to

software allows developers

to learn software on their

schedule — without a vendor’s

artificial time limits.


Conversely, a TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks license does not entitle developers access to other

TIBCO products. For such access, customers must license the desired TIBCO software or find a way to

obtain a trial copy. A limited subset of the overall TIBCO product portfolio is available for download

and use within the terms of a trial license.

PRICING

Red Hat JBoss pricing is based on two factors: the number of cores, and the subscription service level

agreement. For core counts, all Red Hat JBoss Middleware subscriptions are available in increments

of 16 or 64 cores. Whenever larger core counts are needed, those increments are combined, and

every subscription includes all product functionality.

Whenever possible Red Hat includes a price comparison section in competitive reviews. Since TIBCO

does not make product pricing available to the public, we were unable to provide a comparison here.

POTENTIAL ROI

Red Hat commissioned IDC to document some of the many companies that have benefited from a

JBoss Fuse subscription.10 IDC interviewed six organizations that achieved significant business value

using Red Hat JBoss Fuse, in particular by making their application integration and development

efforts more efficient and productive. IDC calculates that these organizations are achieving a three-

year average ROI of 488%, and earning back their investments in JBoss Fuse in 8.2 months by:

• Streamlining application integration and development efforts to save staff time.

• Integrating and developing more business applications.

• Driving higher user productivity levels through quicker access to applications and improved

application performance.

• Regaining productivity lost to application downtime.

• Reducing spend on application subscriptions and hardware costs.

IDC also determined business value benefits of:

• 51.5% more applications integrated per year.

• 40.8% fewer FTEs per application integration.

• 62.8% less application downtime related to integration.

• 18.1% improved middleware integration solution performance.

• 34.2% less costly then previous middleware integration solution.

OPEN SOURCE

The core of all Red Hat products is open source and complies with associated open standards.

Sometimes the value of open source and the added value Red Hat offers in this area get lost

when comparing to proprietary vendors like TIBCO.

10 “Value of Red Hat Integration Products.” Red Hat Resources. Red Hat, Dec. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. <http://www.redhat.com/en/resources/value-red-hat-integration-products>.

What extra work is created

when a vendor does not

make pricing public and

you want to make sure a

fair price is being offered?


LICENSING

Red Hat’s middleware platforms are licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License

and GNU Lesser General Public License, with the acquired FuseSource products covered under the

Apache Software License (ASL). Each of these licenses are used by other open source projects

outside of the Red Hat portfolio, and have been widely reviewed and accepted.

TIBCO products are licensed using terms and conditions that are not as permissive as the GNU

General Public License and GNU Lesser General Public License. Customers, especially commercial

software providers who want to build integration solutions and re-sell them, should consider

if TIBCO licensing terms and conditions are too restrictive.

INDEMNIFICATION

TIBCO asks the question, “How do you know there aren’t IP issues in the code, like in the Novell/SCO

UNIX case? Will your vendor indemnify you against lawsuits?” within a page on its website.11 This is

a good question, and one that Red Hat answers with the Open Source Assurance program. The

Open Source Assurance program provides certain assurances to customers in the event there is

an intellectual property issue with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat JBoss Middleware, or any

other Red Hat subscription product. These assurances include:

• Replacing the infringing portion of the software.

• Modifying the software so that its use becomes non-infringing, or per the next point.

• Obtaining the rights necessary for a customer to continue its use of the software

without interruption.

The Open Source Assurance program also provides indemnification as an additional protection. All

customers with valid Red Hat subscriptions are eligible for this program.

With the Red Hat Open Source Assurance program, the concern TIBCO expresses is negated.

However, TIBCO also raises the points that “IP issues aside, source reviews don’t help you assess

security, scalability, interoperability, or other important architectural features. By its very nature,

open source is also less controlled in deployment and patch management.”12 Red Hat agrees with

TIBCO on this point. Open source in its raw, unhardened form can pose a risk. That is why Red Hat

invests significant time and effort addressing these and other issues when creating subscriber

versions of open source projects. The specifics of what what Red Hat does is well documented

in the Subscription Guide for Red Hat JBoss Middleware.13

11 “The Alternative to an Open Source ESB.” Open Source ESB Alternative. TIBCO, n.d. Web. 16 July 2015. <http://www.tibco.com/integration/open-source-ESB-alternative>.

12 “The Alternative to an Open Source ESB.” Open Source ESB Alternative. TIBCO, n.d. Web. 16 July 2015. <http://www.tibco.com/integration/open-source-ESB-alternative>.

13 “Resources.” Subscription Guide for Red Hat JBoss Middleware. Red Hat, n.d. Web. 16 July 2015. <http://www.redhat.com/en/resources/subscription-guide-red-hat-jboss-middleware>.

TIP: Access to open source

allows you benefits such as

being able to expand upon

existing functionality without

having to start coding

from scratch.

Has your company ever

been question about

iolating IP issues based

on software in use?


COMMUNITY-TO-ENTERPRISE TRANSITION

Red Hat community open source projects are the basis for enterprise products like Red Hat

JBoss Fuse. Software-hardening code changes made to enterprise versions are included with

Red Hat subscriptions. With the exception of JBoss Operations Network, all Red Hat JBoss Fuse

functionality is also found in the upstream community projects. This helps simplify the transition

to JBoss Fuse for customers using upstream community projects. Transitioning from community

to JBoss Fuse has other benefits such as bug and security fixes, platform certification, and more.14

COMMUNITY INNOVATION

Red Hat community projects are fortunate to commonly have large developer communities. While

Red Hat does have developers on staff, those developers contribute their code to the open source

community. Red Hat developers also regularly collaborate with other developers who represent

other companies. The result is a diverse developer community that creates innovative technology

born from a broad vision of what features are needed. In the case of Red Hat JBoss Fuse, the

majority of code comes from the Apache ActiveMQ, Apache Camel, Apache CXF, Apache Karaf,

and Fuse Fabric projects.

Each project has a sizable community working on the open source code:

• The Fuse Fabric project has over 200 team members, by way of the Fabric8.io

• The Apache ActiveMQ project has nearly 50 code committers and nearly 75 contributors

• The Apache Camel project has around 40 code committers and around 90 contributors

• The Apache CXF project has around 30 code committers

• The Apache Karaf project has around 22 code committers

The overall community contributing to projects associated with Red Hat JBoss Fuse is a sizable

development staff — one that some proprietary companies would be hard-pressed to match. But

community size alone cannot account for the worldwide population of Red Hat employees associ-

ated with the success of Red Hat JBoss Fuse via product safety, support, services, and more.

SUMMARY

This competitive review between Red Hat and TIBCO integration technologies has presented multiple

differences between the products.

A notable difference is that only Red Hat JBoss Fuse is a 100% open source product. Red Hat is

committed to leveraging existing open source projects and using open standards whenever possible

for both product implementation and integration communication. This includes Camel, the de-facto

integration standard included with Red Hat JBoss Fuse. Red Hat’s open source commitment extends

to Active MQ, the upstream messaging technology used with JBoss A-MQ and included with Red Hat

JBoss Fuse.

Another difference is that Red Hat JBoss Fuse clustering is based on the upstream Fabric8 commu-

nity project and offers much more functionality than TIBCO clustering options.

14 “Subscription Guide for Red Hat JBoss Middleware.” (n.d.): n. pag. Red Hat. Red Hat. Web. 5 Oct. 2015. <http://www.redhat.com/en/files/resources/en-rhjb-subscription-guide-12149557.pdf>.

TIP: Companies that contribute

to open source code lines are

generally more familiar with the

code than those companies that

simply embed the source code

into their products.

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ABOUT RED HAT

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage, and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services. As a connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners, and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT.

For cloud deployments, only Red Hat JBoss Fuse is available for use in public, private, and hybrid

cloud environments using OpenShift — a Red Hat cloud product based on multiple popular and

current industry standard technologies such as OpenStack, docker-formatted images, and

Kubernetes. Plus, the OpenShift operating system is Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which allows you

to use the same operating system for both on-premise and cloud environments. Companies such

as Boeing, Cisco, Amadeus, FICO, and more are running OpenShift and realizing significant benefits15.

Red Hat JBoss Fuse is available in 16- and 64-core entitlements at a price that can provide a rapid

ROI, as reported by IDC. Subscribers can use those savings to start more projects, deploy more mid-

dleware throughout the enterprise, and apply more time and budget towards innovation.

Innovate more and spend less with a Red Hat JBoss Fuse subscription. Contact your Red Hat sales

professional for more information.

15 “Our Customers.” OpenShift Customers. Red Hat, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015. <https://enterprise.openshift.com/customers/>.

COMPETITIVE REVIEW Red Hat JBoss Fuse compared with TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.3