The open source invasion of the data center continues this week with an Apache Tomcat Java application server offering from SpringSource.

For those of you not familiar with SpringSource, this relatively young startup company has been gaining a fair amount of traction in the open source application development community. With the release of its tc Server, SpringSource is hoping to leverage its popularity among developers to get a bigger footprint in the enterprise.

All too often, enterprise developers will create an application on a low-cost enterprise platform. But when that application moves into a production environment, they are told it needs to run on an enterprise-class application server from IBM or Oracle.

But as IT organizations now look to cut costs, SpringSource is arguing that customers can save lots of money by relying on its tc Server to run Java applications that in many instances were originally developed using its development tools.

The SpringSource tc Server represents another instance where purveyors of open source technologies are making an argument that says that the current economy creates a ripe scenario for moving away from expensive commercial software. Of course, IBM, Red Hat and others have their own open source alternatives in the application server space. But companies that have a strong relationship with developers such as SpringSource stand an excellent chance of leveraging those ties to gain a bigger footprint for their application server wares.

Even if an IT organization remains committed to IBM or Oracle, SpringSource has created an option that makes it possible to extend Java application running on those platforms to new users by using the tc Server to extend applications that are now running on IBM or Oracle platforms. Of course, in the case of Oracle, SpringSource is also making an argument that says former BEA customers might be more interested in a third-part y alternative to Oracle following the acquisition of BEA.

No matter where you look in the enterprise, open source software is being more widely considered than ever. And the options for IT organizations in this space seem to abound with each passing week. The only thing that needs to be pondered at this point is not whether open source will play a bigger role in the enterprise, but rather to what degree is that going to inevitably happen.