The new Red Hat Application Stack includes software, support and upgrades for a single server running Red Hat Enterprise Linux, JBoss Application Server, JBoss Hibernate and one of two open-source databases: MySQL or PostgreSQL.

Aimed at Linux and Java developers running fewer than 10 servers, the offering will be delivered online through the Red Hat Networkaccording to Todd Barr, Red Hat's director of enterprise marketing. An annual subscription starts at US$1,999 for a single server, and does not involve extra costs for client access licenses.

At its annual summit in June, Red Hat dumped its own Red Hat Application Server in favor of JBoss, which Red Hat announced it would buy in April for an estimated $400 million.

Barr said Red Hat hopes to woo customers away from proprietary application servers such as BEA Systems Inc.'s WebLogic and IBM's WebSphere Application Server. According to a recent survey of 700 developers by Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Evans Data Corp., they are still considered the two leading application servers on the market, with JBoss ranked sixth. Indeed, Red Hat's announcement comes one day before the start of BEA's annual BEAWorld show in San Francisco.

Barr downplayed competition with HP, despite the fact that the company ships a trio of open-source middleware stacks, including one based around JBoss and Red Hat.