The Open Connectivity Foundation and the AllSeen Alliance have announced their decision to merge under the OCF name and bylaws. The purpose of this merger is to unite all forces behind one IoT standard so all IoT devices can interoperate with one another.
The official announcement mentions that the new OCF will continue developing both the IoTivity project and the AllJoyn framework. Since there is a major overlap between the two, we asked OCF to provide more details on how they see the future of the frameworks. The answer suggests that the two projects will be eventually folded into one, IoTivity:
The AllJoyn certification, specification and marketing activities and relevant assets of the AllSeen Alliance will transfer to OCF. These will be managed by a newly expanded OCF board of directors. The AllJoyn open source software project will now be sponsored by OCF, along with IoTivity, at the Linux Foundation. With this merging, both software projects will collaborate to support future versions of the OCF specifications to combine the best of both technologies into a unified IoTivity roadmap, while providing support and interoperability enhancements for current implementations.
Both organizations number about two hundred members each, including major hardware and software manufacturers with interests in this space. Some of the notable ones are Cisco, Electrolux, GE, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, and SONY. Some of these companies have been members of both organizations, following their developments to make sure they are up to date with what is going on.
This merger is great news for a nascent industry that needs standardization and broad support from all those interested in the IoT space.
