If you’ve read my two previous blog posts, you already have an understanding of how interest groups and working groups provide two different mechanisms for industry collaboration, how your organisation can get started on its own collaboration journey, and the numerous benefits that come from collaborating on open source software at the Eclipse Foundation.
But the best way to understand what joining an industry collaboration can do for your organisation is by taking a look at some of our current collaborations.
The Eclipse Foundation currently hosts 21 Industry Collaborations focused on various technologies and domains, from developer tools to cloud native Java, IoT and beyond. One working group that has experienced considerable momentum recently is Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle (SDV).
Over 40 organisations have joined Eclipse SDV since the working group’s launch in 2022. Members range from automotive OEMs and Tier-1’s, to enterprise software companies, to the cloud hyperscalers. This is driven by the fact that the software defined vehicles of the future will be highly connected, and the systems engineering requirements will span deeply embedded and safety critical components all the way to connectivity to cloud-based IT systems.
Eclipse SDV members collaborate on non-differentiating technologies and share best practices, which decreases their time to market and makes things easier for their developers. The move to open source software is a significant departure from the norm for the automotive industry, which has historically embraced proprietary solutions where common building blocks are often replicated.
Visit the Eclipse SDV project page to see the code first approach across more than 20 projects.
While interest groups are fairly new to the Eclipse Foundation, there are a few active collaborations that are benefiting from the foundation’s governance structure, like Models for Privacy Engineering, OpenMobility and Eclipse ThreadX.
In the case of OpenMobility, a group of four members came together to work on evolving and driving adoption of mobility modelling and simulation technologies.
Its members are interested in delivering a methodology and a framework of tools that are based on validated models. These tools are intended to be recognised as “standard tools” in industry applications and academia for mobility modelling and simulation. OpenMobility has declared interest in Eclipse MOSAIC and Eclipse SUMO and Eclipse openMCx.
Eclipse ThreadX: A New Era for Embedded RTOS Technology
The Eclipse Foundation’s newest interest group is a unique case. With Microsoft contributing Azure RTOS to the Eclipse Foundation under the Eclipse ThreadX project last month, plans are underway to establish a working group that will consolidate the project, preserve its certifications, promote the brand, and grow the technology’s ecosystem and community.
However, this cannot be done without first establishing an industry-supported, sustainable funding model for Eclipse ThreadX. This will be the focus of the new ThreadX Interest Group. The founding members of this interest group intend to form a working group dedicated to the project after investigating key topics around the potential working group’s funding and goals. Any company with an interest in embedded technology is welcome to join the interest group to define ThreadX’s future.
While interest groups are not necessarily intended to serve as a jumping off point for new working groups, ThreadX shows just how flexible this collaboration model can be. With interest groups, members can come together to share a common interest in a topic or domain in a vendor-neutral manner. What members choose to collaborate on is up to them.
To learn more about our industry collaborations and our current showcase, please visit eclipse.org/collaborations, and contact us if you are interested in joining and/or forming a new collaboration!
