OW2

OW2 is an independent, non-profit international consortium focused on open-source software infrastructure for middleware and enterprise information systems. It brings together technology companies, software users, universities, research organizations, and individual IT professionals across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Rather than operating as a conventional software vendor, OW2 provides a collaborative framework in which open-source projects can be proposed, developed, governed, hosted, and promoted. The consortium was established in 2007 to continue and broaden the work of the ObjectWeb open-source middleware community. ObjectWeb had begun in 2002 as a joint initiative involving INRIA, Bull, and France Telecom. Its development later intersected with OrientWare, a Chinese research and software collaboration involving Peking University, Beihang University, the National University of Defense Technology, CVIC Software Engineering, and the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. These communities and organizations formed the foundation for OW2, joined by founding members including Engineering, Red Hat, and Thales Group. OW2's central asset is its project code base, which has included approximately 100 open-source projects. Projects may apply to enter the consortium after meeting baseline requirements. They initially enter an incubation stage, during which their code, community, and governance can develop under OW2 infrastructure. Projects that attract contributors and satisfy more demanding technical and organizational criteria may apply for mature status. The OW2 Technology Council reviews such applications. Projects that cease active development can be moved to an archive stage while retaining access to certain infrastructure services. The consortium also provides development and collaboration infrastructure. In its early years, OW2 hosted projects through GForge using CVS and Apache Subversion. As distributed version-control practices became standard, the organization moved toward Git-based hosting, first using Gitorious and later GitLab. In 2018, OW2 completed the decommissioning of its GForge and Subversion environment in favor of the GitLab-based platform. Community building is another important part of OW2's role. The organization has organized OW2con, an annual conference for its community, since 2009. The event provides a setting for project presentations, technical discussions, ecosystem networking, and debate about the use of open source in cloud computing, the Internet of Things, cybersecurity, and other enterprise technology domains. OW2's positioning reflects the European open-source infrastructure movement: it emphasizes vendor-neutral collaboration, shared development, reusable middleware components, and access to software governed through community processes. Its scope is international, but its origins and institutional identity are strongly connected to French and European research, industrial, and public-interest technology networks. The available reference material does not identify a commercial parent company, public listing, chief executive, or a single flagship product. OW2 is best understood as a project-hosting, governance, and ecosystem organization whose portfolio changes according to the status and activity of its member projects.

OW2 was created in 2007 as an independent international non-profit consortium dedicated to open-source infrastructure for middleware and enterprise information systems. Its formation followed the development of the ObjectWeb community, an open-source middleware initiative launched in 2002 by INRIA, Bull, and France Telecom. ObjectWeb provided the technical and organizational foundation for a broader consortium intended to bring together commercial technology companies, users, universities, and research centers. The creation of OW2 also reflected growing cooperation between European and Chinese open-source and research communities. In 2005, INRIA entered into an agreement with OrientWare, a joint project involving Peking University, Beihang University, the National University of Defense Technology, CVIC Software Engineering, and the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Participants from these initiatives became part of the founding community of OW2, alongside Engineering, Red Hat, and Thales Group. OW2's operating model centers on a shared project code base rather than a single commercial product. Projects can apply to join the code base after satisfying minimum requirements. Once accepted, they enter incubation, the first stage of OW2's lifecycle. During incubation, projects can build contributors, improve their code and documentation, and establish the technical and community practices expected by the consortium. A project may later apply for mature status, with the application reviewed by the OW2 Technology Council. Projects that no longer evolve can be moved into an archive stage; archived projects are no longer treated as active but may continue using selected OW2 infrastructure services. In 2008, OW2 began hosting projects through GForge with CVS and Apache Subversion. This gave participating projects a common environment for source-code management and collaboration. As development practices shifted toward distributed version control, OW2 introduced Git-based hosting through Gitorious. The organization subsequently migrated to GitLab and, in 2018, retired its GForge and Subversion systems. The change marked a technical modernization of the consortium's project infrastructure and aligned its hosting model with contemporary open-source development workflows. Community outreach became a recurring part of OW2's activity. Since 2009, OW2con has served as an annual conference for presentations, technical exchange, and ecosystem engagement. OW2's public discussions and publications have addressed themes including cloud ecosystems, business intelligence, the Internet of Things, cybersecurity, and Europe's role in open-source software development. The available material does not document a single commercial owner, public-company structure, chief executive, or definitive headquarters address. OW2 is therefore best characterized as a membership-based open-source ecosystem and infrastructure organization. Its continuing identity rests on the projects it hosts, its governance and lifecycle processes, its technical services, and its role in connecting industry, research, and user communities across regions.

1. 2018Migration to GitLab completed

   OW2 decommissioned its GForge and Subversion environment after migrating project hosting to Git and GitLab.

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2. 2009OW2con launched

   OW2 began organizing its annual community conference, OW2con.

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3. 2008Initial project hosting infrastructure introduced

   OW2 began hosting projects through GForge with CVS and Apache Subversion.

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4. 2007OW2 founded

   OW2 was established as an independent non-profit consortium to foster and expand the ObjectWeb open-source middleware code base.

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5. 2005Cooperation with OrientWare

   INRIA signed an agreement with OrientWare, connecting the ObjectWeb community with Chinese universities, research institutions, and software organizations.

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6. 2002ObjectWeb project launched

   INRIA, Bull, and France Telecom launched ObjectWeb, the open-source middleware initiative that later provided the foundation for OW2.

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A non-profit, vendor-neutral consortium for developing, governing, hosting, and promoting open-source middleware and enterprise software infrastructure.

• OW2 open-source project code baseOpen-source software infrastructure2007

  OW2's principal portfolio is a shared code base containing approximately 100 open-source projects associated with middleware and enterprise information systems. Projects enter through an application process and may progress from incubation to mature status after demonstrating technical development, contributor activity, and compliance with consortium requirements. Inactive projects may be archived while retaining access to selected infrastructure services.

• OW2 project hosting infrastructureDeveloper infrastructure2008

  OW2 provides shared hosting and collaboration infrastructure for its open-source projects. The service originally used GForge with CVS and Apache Subversion, later adopted Git-based hosting through Gitorious, and ultimately moved to GitLab. The platform supports the consortium's project lifecycle and community-development model rather than functioning as a standalone commercial software product.

• OW2conTechnology conference2009

  OW2con is the consortium's annual community conference. It brings together project contributors, members, users, technology companies, and research participants for presentations and discussion about open-source infrastructure and related enterprise technology topics.

• 2009OW2con

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  OW2con was established as an annual conference and community program supporting project visibility, technical exchange, and collaboration among OW2 participants.

  Outcome. The event became a recurring part of OW2's community and ecosystem activities.

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• 2018Consolidation of project hosting on GitLabStrategy

  OW2's earlier hosting environment relied on GForge, CVS, and Subversion, while open-source development practices had increasingly shifted toward Git-based workflows.

  What changed. OW2 migrated its projects to GitLab and decommissioned GForge and Subversion hosting.

  Aftermath. The consortium adopted a more current distributed-version-control platform for its hosted projects.

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• 2018OW2 replaces legacy GForge and Subversion hosting with GitLab

  OW2 completed the transition away from its earlier GForge and Subversion environment, consolidating project hosting around Git and GitLab.

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• 2009OW2con becomes an annual community conference

  OW2 began organizing OW2con as an annual event for its open-source project community, members, users, and technology partners.

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1. OW2
2. OW2 official website