Through this model, the company will provide the software for free under an open source paradigm while selling subscriptions for ancillary services and support. In development for about 18 months, Celtix mixes in pieces from multiple open source projects and offers capabilities for service routing and messaging.

"The main driver [for Celtix] is that people would like to service-enable their existing IT environment and this allows them to do it in a very low-cost way," said Debbie Moynihan, Iona director of open source programs.

With Celtix, Iona is expanding its view of open source technology, seeing it as a revenue generator and not just as a lead-in to its commercial Artix ESB, said analyst Tom Rhinelander of New Rowley Group.

"What's now happened with Celtix is it's matured and they said, 'Look, we think this can be a real product,' " Rhinelander said.

Celtix provides capabilities needed to get started in SOA, Rhinelander said. "Celtix is really about moving up from basic Web services to an SOA," he added.