Cloud-native integration platform company TriggerMesh Inc. said today it’s open-sourcing its flagship platform under the Apache Software License 3.0.

The TriggerMesh Integration Platform makes it easy for enterprises to link together applications running in different clouds and on-premises data centers. That’s important, because most business applications need to integrate with other apps to perform business tasks.

For example, a sales analytics application will need to pull purchase records from a customer database to generate revenue forecasts. To enable that interaction, developers would traditionally build an integration between the two different apps.

The problem enterprises have is that these days, they’re running multiple applications hosted in different environments. So, many find themselves in a situation where they must connect cloud-hosted software-as-a-service tools with apps running on-premises. Or else they might need to link two workloads that are deployed on different clouds.

Building integrations for each app would be incredibly time-consuming, so platforms such as TriggerMesh provide an easier option. The TriggerMesh Integration Platform has dozens of ready-made integrations for public clouds such as Amazon Web Services, popular SaaS apps such as Slack, databases and other tools. So, companies can simply grab the pre-built integrations they need to link together the different apps they use, no matter what environment they’re running in.

TriggerMesh makes everything simple through a point-and-click interface that developers can use to quickly customize how those workflows are integrated. For instance, TriggerMesh connectors can be configured to activate automatically in response to specified events. So when purchase records are added to an on-premises customer database, that updated record would automatically be sent to an analytics platform in AWS.

TriggerMesh intends to make money by selling support and value-added services for the open-source TriggerMesh Platorm. It also sells tools such including a graphical user interface that features a visual integration editor, plus enterprise authentication and authorization tools.

“As a former VP of the Apache CloudStack project and the founder of the Kubeless serverless framework for Kubernetes, I deeply believe that the open-source development and distribution model is the best way to deliver enterprise cloud software,” said TriggerMesh co-founder and Head of Product Sebastien Gosguen.

TriggerMesh Chief Executive Mark Hinkle added that the company was always planning to open-source its platform, but was careful to choose the right software foundation to ensure the project’s ongoing success.

The choice of foundation can be a difficult decision, as RedMonk Principal Analyst Stephen O’Grady explained.

“While the industry tends to discuss ‘open source’ as if it’s a singular entity, the fact is that the term encompasses a wide variety of licenses and approaches, each of which has different rights and obligations for users to consider,” he said. “Of the approved open-source licenses, however, perhaps none is as favored within the enterprise as version 2 of the Apache Software License. From its permissive nature to its patent protections, the Apache license is an excellent choice for software intended to be used by businesses and developed collaboratively.”

Image: TriggerMesh