Open Ajax

OpenAjax - how it was born

In late 2005, thanks largely to the globetrotting of David Boloker, IBM's CTO of Emerging Internet Technologies, a small number of leading companies brainstormed about how to ensure that Ajax fulfills its potential as the industry standard rich application platform based on open technologies. These early discussions came to a climax on Feb. 1, 2006, with the announcement of the "OpenAjax Initiative", whose 15 original companies included BEA, Borland, the Dojo Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, Google, IBM, Laszlo Systems, Mozilla Corporation, Novell, Openwave Systems, Oracle, Red Hat, Yahoo, Zend and Zimbra. (See  press release on launch of OpenAjax with 15 original companies.)

Between February 1 and May 15, another 15 organizations joined "OpenAjax", and the (then) 30 companies held a two-day kickoff meeting in San Francisco to lay out the blue-print for the initiative moving forward. At the meeting, the group decided to establish the OpenAjax Alliance, defined its mission, agreed on an interim organizational process, and established its initial activities. (See article on first OpenAjax meeting.)

Subsequently, the participating companies defined a formal governance model via the Members Agreement, executed on its initial marketing and technical activities, posted its initial Web site and White Paper, began work on the OpenAjax Hub, elected its Steering Committee, and then held a second two-day kick-off meeting on Oct 5-6, 2006, in Santa Clara to discuss operations, priorities and possible new activities. Since there, the Alliance has made considerable progress on multiple fronts, largely due to the efforts of its multiple Working Groups and Task Forces.

The sections below summarize the current state of OpenAjax Alliance, including its mission, objectives, process, and the activities that the Members of OpenAjax Alliance will pursue.