Oracle announced that it has been appointed a board member and strategic developer of the Eclipse Foundation. The database giant also has donated code and proposed a new project to the open-source development organization.SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Oracle has announced that the company has been appointed an Eclipse Board Member and Strategic Developer, and Oracle also will donate its Java persistence framework, Oracle TopLink, to the open-source community.
Oracle made the announcements at the EclipseCon 2007 conference here March 6. In addition, Oracle announced the proposal of a new Eclipse project to deliver a comprehensive persistence platform based on the contribution of Oracle TopLink, a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, source code and test cases.
Oracle officials said that with its latest contribution and project proposal, Oracle continues to demonstrate its commitment to the developer and open-source communities.
The Oracle TopLink persistence engine offers object-to-relational, object-to-XML, and Enterprise Information System data access through all of the major standards, including the Java Persistence API, JAXB (Java API for XML Binding), SDO (Service Data Objects) and the JCA (Java Connector Architecture).
"Oracle has been an Eclipse member since its inception and a significant contributor," said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation, in a statement.
"The donation of Oracle TopLink to the open-source community is a win-win for Eclipse and the community. We are excited about the opportunities this proposed project presents and for the community, which will gain a complete and comprehensive open-source persistence platform."
In addition to its code contribution, Oracle proposes to lead a new Eclipse run-time project to provide a set of persistence services that can be used in Java and OSGi (Open Services Gateway Initiative) environments.
Click here to read more about Mike Milinkovich becoming executive director of Eclipse.
Oracle will use the existing code base of Oracle TopLink as the starting point for this project.
Through its participation in the OSGi Enterprise Expert Group, Oracle will also work with the group members to create a set of blueprints that define how OSGi applications can access standardized persistence technologies.
If the reaction from the founders of the Spring Framework is any indication, the open-source community is big on the Oracle news.
"Interface21 has worked closely with Oracle on the integration of Oracle TopLink technology with the Spring Framework 2.0, which has been tremendously successful with the open-source community," said Rod Johnson, founder of the Spring Framework and CEO of Interface21 Ltd., Kent, U.K., in a statement.
"Now with all of TopLink being available under open source, this provides an even richer persistence platform for the community, and we are excited about the proposed move to Eclipse. This will enhance the community involvement that is so important to Spring customers."
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