"You can actually go in and modify the code," he said.

While open source has provided some cost savings to enterprises, openness has been the bigger benefit, Monson-Haefel said. "The bigger piece of the pie is there is no detergent like sunshine. You can see everything in the code and how the system works."

Part of the Arjuna offering, its Java transaction API for handing transactions in a single database, will be included in the JBoss application server.

"The technology will enhance our existing capabilities by adding full log-in and recovery [including] automated recovery [of transactions]. Right now, it's a manual process" in the application server, Connolly said.

As part of the acquisition, the chief architect at Arjuna, Mark Little, will move over to JBoss and become of the company's director of standards. The primary developer of the technology, Kevin Conner, also moves to JBoss and becomes a core developer of JBoss Transactions.