Nuxeo, the open source ECM vendor, announced today that it has proposed moving its Java Content Repository to the Eclipse Foundation, which--not unlike the Apache Foundation--acts as a conduit for approved projects.

The foundation describes itself as "an open source community, whose projects are focused on building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle."

If approved the project will be known as the 'Eclipse Enterprise Content Repository (ECR) project.'

The scope for ECR includes APIs (Java, REST), content management interoperability support via CMIS, and a wide range of content repository services. 

Cheryl McKinnon, who is chief marketing officer at Nuxeo, says this project could provide companies access to an open source content repository on which they can build custom content applications. "This is a significant step in the evolution of ECM because the core content repository services are openly available to any organization or software vendor needing to build a content rich application--with CMIS support inherently available. ECM can now become pervasively adopted and incorporated anywhere, any time," McKinnon explained.

If you're wondering what's in it for Nuxeo, McKinnon says overall this approach isn't new for Nuxeo because it has always provided its product as open source, but she believes it has the potential to open up Nuxeo development to a wider community of contributors.

"Ultimately this will help us stay competitive, innovative, create more awareness for the company, all helping to drive new revenue," she said.

McKinnon says she even sees it enhancing ECM in general because "it means software vendors no longer need to continually re-invent the wheel for the same set of typical library services. By including CMIS support right in this core repository offering via Eclipse Foundation, we've taken the first step to building common ground that can now be used as a foundation for any content application. Many major ECM vendors already leverage Eclipse projects, this could be the base for their next generation offering."

For more information:
- see the Nuxeo press release
- see the Eclipse Foundation web site

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