In an era of major economic uncertainty, global industry leaders continue to invest in open source to fuel digitalization and innovation
BRUSSELS – JUNE 9, 2020 – The Eclipse Foundation, one of the world’s largest open source software foundations, today announced the release of its Annual Community Report for 2020, which covers the foundation’s activity from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. In addition to the foundation’s announcement of its plans to incorporate as a European entity, the organization has experienced unprecedented growth, both in terms of new member organizations joining and new projects begun. More than 50 new member companies have joined since January 1, 2020 and five new working groups have been established, covering a broad set of open source technologies. The report in its entirety can be read here: https://www.eclipse.org/org/foundation/reports/annual_report.php
“The global economy and the worldwide technology industry in particular is operating in uncharted waters,” said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “Despite, or perhaps because of, this ambiguity, the participation in open source ecosystems has never been higher. While the acceleration in membership growth is fantastic for the Eclipse Foundation, just as intriguing is the sheer diversity of organizations embracing open collaboration and open source innovation. From cloud service providers to consumer products to silicon vendors to manufacturers and energy firms, we are seeing unprecedented levels of engagement across all sectors of industry and all regions of the world.”
Just a few of the new members of the Eclipse Foundation include companies such as Alibaba Cloud, Chevron, Dell Technologies, NEC Corporation, NVIDIA, Silicon Laboratories, and STMicroelectronics. This increase in the diversity of member companies is matched by the diversity in new initiatives covering a broad range of open source technologies far beyond the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with which the organization was founded. In fact, of the over 375 projects currently under development at the Eclipse Foundation, more than 300 of these are in areas completely separate from the IDE, spanning the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, edge computing, AI, connected vehicles, digital ledger technologies, and more.
One example of the innovative ways the Eclipse Foundation is supporting the creation and growth of open ecosystems is the foundation's relationship with the nonprofit OpenHW Group. OpenHW Group's mission is to support the development of the CORE-V family of RISC-V based open source cores, related IP, tools, and software. Through a unique partnership, OpenHW Group Platinum, Gold, and Silver members are also members of the Eclipse Foundation, and all OpenHW Group projects are operated as Eclipse projects. Thus, the proven Eclipse open source governance framework is being applied to this exciting new domain.
“The OpenHW Group was founded specifically to build a collaborative ecosystem for the development and availability of open source HW IP blocks such as our CORE-V Family of open source RISC-V processor cores for use in high volume production,” said Rick O’Connor, president and CEO, OpenHW Group. “Since the launch of the OpenHW Group, we've enjoyed significant membership growth. Our partnership with the Eclipse Foundation and our adoption of the Eclipse Development Process have been instrumental in helping us achieve this success.”
Open source is proven to be the most viable way to deliver complex, sustainable technology innovation and adoption across industry sectors. As outlined in its recent white paper, the Eclipse Foundation recognizes the important role open source will play in driving the digital and industrial transformations called for by the European Commission in its recent strategies.
“Open source software is integral across most verticals and economic uncertainty can mean opportunity for open source adoption,” said Jay Lyman, principal analyst with 451 Research, now a part of S&P Global Market Intelligence. “The importance of open source is highlighted in our Voice of the Enterprise: DevOps survey, with much higher representation of an open source software preference or mandate (47% of organizations) compared to an open source software aversion or prohibition (15% of organizations).”
The Eclipse Foundation is one of the largest open source organizations in the world as measured in members, developers, and projects. Supported by over 300 members and more than 1,600 committers globally, the organization has an established international reach and reputation, and a track record of enabling co-innovation earned over more than 15 years. The foundation’s more than 375 open source projects have resulted in over 240 million lines of code — a more than €13 billion shared investment. The organization’s members include industry leaders who value the foundation’s open innovation processes and its unique working group governance model that makes it possible to share intellectual property without the threat of antitrust and regulatory challenges. The foundation hosts 14 working groups, which foster industry co-innovation in specific technology domains, including Jakarta EE, Edge Native, Eclipse IoT, Sparkplug, Tangle EE, Eclipse Cloud Development Tools, openMobility, and more. Additional information on the foundation’s plans and how interested parties can get involved can be found at eclipse.org/europe.
“As the world around us undergoes massive upheaval and social distance has become mandatory, digital platforms have never been as critical as they are today,” said Stephen O’Grady, principal analyst with RedMonk. “With open source representing the foundation of these digital platforms, foundations that allow open source to thrive in a neutral environment are that much more vital. It was for this exact reason that the Eclipse Foundation was originally formed.”
About the Eclipse Foundation
The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and organizations with a mature, scalable, and business-friendly environment for open source software collaboration and innovation. The foundation is home to the Eclipse IDE, Jakarta EE, and over 375 open source projects, including runtimes, tools, and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, systems engineering, digital ledger technologies, open processor designs, and many others. The Eclipse Foundation is a not-for-profit organization supported by over 300 members, including industry leaders who value open source as a key enabler for their business strategies. To learn more, follow us on Twitter @EclipseFdn, LinkedIn, or visit eclipse.org.
Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
###
Media contacts
Weber Shandwick Belgium
Rūta Emilija Malinauskaitė
Manager, Media Relations
+32 492 46 73 04
rmalinauskaite@webershandwick.com
Weber Shandwick Germany
Matthias Wowtscherk
Account Director, Media Relations
+49 30 20351245
mwowtscherk@webershandwick.com
Nichols Communications for the Eclipse Foundation, Inc.
Jay Nichols
jay@nicholscomm.com
+1 408-772-1551