IBM and Oracle have announced that they will collaborate to enable developers and customers to build and innovate based on existing Java investments and the OpenJDK reference implementation.
Java is a general-purpose software development language that is specifically designed to be open and enable application developers to "write once, run anywhere." The language is most widely used in business software, web and mobile applications.
The collaboration will center on the OpenJDK project, the open source implementation of the Java Standard Edition (Java SE) specification, the Java Language, the Java Development Kit (JDK), and Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE).
IBM and Oracle will make OpenJDK the primary location for Open Source Java SE development. The Java Community Process (JCP) will continue to be the primary standards body for Java specification work and both companies will work to continue to enhance the JCP.
The companies will support the recently announced OpenJDK development roadmap, which accelerates the availability of Java SE across the open source community.
"Java is about compatibility and always has been. It's not been easy to maintain runtime environments that are consistent across platforms while exploiting the underlying features and performance advantages of those platforms," notes Dr. Bob Sutor, vice president, Open Systems and Linux, IBM Software Group, in a recent blog post. "With this newly unified OpenJDK open source project, we can give customers the confidence they need to continue to invest in Java-based solutions knowing that they will get the best technology, the most important innovations, and the tightest collaboration among industry leaders."
Java runs on many different operating systems and hardware platforms, and does so particularly well on Linux and IBM's System z, POWER, and Intel-based hardware, points out Sutor. IBM's collaboration with Oracle on OpenJDK, he adds, will benefit IBM's customers and help protect their investments in Java and IT technology based on it.
Read Sutor's blog post, titled "IBM joins the OpenJDK community, will help unify open source Java efforts," here.