IBM will take an active, supportive role in the new OpenOffice.org code base submitted to The Apache Software Foundation Incubator. IBM will contribute staff resources to collaborate with the Apache community during the project's incubation period to further the Open Document Format standard.
"Open source and standards are key to making our planet smarter and improving the way we live and work," notes Kevin Cavanaugh, vice president, IBM Collaboration Solutions. "As IBM celebrates its centennial, we're actively investing in projects that will help our clients to collaborate in an open manner over the next 100 years."
IBM's support will help facilitate the long-term viability and new innovation for OpenOffice.org development in collaboration with the Apache community. The Open Document Format is the standard for document interoperability across software from many vendors. Advances around ODF, combined with alternative forms of communication (email, IM, tweets, blogs), cloud delivery models for business applications, growth in smart, mobile devices, and economic pressures are all converging to apply pressure to the status quo of documents. As these industry factors converge, IBM is helping organizations move towards a model that offers low-cost acquisition of document tools, coupled with high value and high collaboration solutions around a document.
Lotus Symphony, IBM's no-charge, on-premise, office productivity suite is based on the Open Document Format standard. For more information on IBM's open source initiatives, visit www.ibm.com/opensource.