The rate of open source M&A continues apace, this time involving two open source software vendors. SpringSource has announced plans to acquire Covalent Technologies for an undisclosed fee. At first glance the deal makes a lot of sense as it marries SpringSource’s Spring Framework-related products and services with the Apache support and services offered by Covalent.

Coincidentally, as news of the deal filtered through to me I happened to be on the phone with another middleware player discussing how Spring and Tomcat formed part of the new open source stack emerging as an alternative to J2EE and LAMP. We imagine the acquisition will make sense to potential partners just as it will potentially customers looking for combined Spring/Apache support.

The only question mark is on the price paid. Neither Rod Johnson nor Mark Brewer were prepared to talk specifics, although the did say the deal was a combination of cash and stock. With SpringSource only having raised $10m to date that suggests a low multiple.

That aside the deal looks good. All Covalent’s permament employees are expected to make the switch from Walnut Creek to San Mateo, and Covalent will also bring its 400 or so customers. While branding issues have not been decided, there are no plans to drop Covalent’s offerings. Mark Brewer will become vice president and general manager of SpringSource’s Covalent business unit, while Rod Johnson remains SpringSource CEO.

Some time ago I mentioned that the spate of open source mergers and acquisition could be separated into two categories: open source acquisition targets, and open source consolidation. Given the number of deals we’ve seen in the former category lately (Sun/MySQL, Nokia/Trolltech) it is good to see another in the latter category as well.