The Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), sponsor of the IoTivity open source project, and AllSeen Alliance, which provides the AllJoyn® open source IoT framework, today announced that the two organizations’ boards have approved a merger under the OCF name and bylaws. This merger will advance interoperability between connected devices from both groups, enabling the full operating potential of IoT and representing a significant step towards a connected ecosystem.

The newly merged groups will collaborate on future OCF specifications, as well as the IoTivity and AllJoyn open source projects. The expanded OCF board of directors will consist of executives from a wide array of leading companies: AB Electrolux, Arçelik A.S., ARRIS International plc, CableLabs, Canon, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., GE Digital, Haier, Intel, LG Electronics, Inc., Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, and Technicolor SA.

OCF will now sponsor both the IoTivity and AllJoyn open source projects at The Linux Foundation. Both projects will collaborate to support future versions of the OCF specification in a single IoTivity implementation that combines the best of both technologies into a unified solution. Current devices running on either AllJoyn or IoTivity solutions will be interoperable and backward-compatible. Companies already developing IoT solutions based on either technology can proceed with the confidence that their products will be compatible with the unified IoT standard that the industry has been asking for.

“By coming together as one group, we are able to make IoT a more seamless, secure experience for everyone involved, from developers to end users,” said Danny Lousberg, Chairperson of the AllSeen Alliance. “The AllSeen Alliance and Open Connectivity Foundation have been working together closely to deliver a technologically comprehensive solution that makes sense for the industry and our members.

The merger is designed to leverage the strengths of each organization. To this merger, the AllSeen Alliance brings its diverse, global membership, proven AllJoyn technology, and millions of AllJoyn-enabled products into the market through the AllJoyn Certified program. OCF brings its deep membership roster, formal IoT standards with expertise across multiple vertical markets and cloud-native architecture as implemented within the IoTivity framework. Together, these strengths create an organization that establishes the broad interoperability needed to realize the full market potential for IoT.

“We’re incredibly excited about this unification as both groups have been working diligently to make this possible,” said Mike Richmond, executive director, Open Connectivity Foundation. “As we forge onwards towards this shared goal, we are focused on building the most robust, open IoT software solution to achieve our vision – complete interoperability within the IoT.”

For more information about membership, please visit: https://openconnectivity.org/join.

About Open Connectivity Foundation

Billions of connected devices (devices, phones, computers and sensors) should be able to communicate with one another regardless of manufacturer, operating system, chipset or physical transport. The Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) is creating a specification and sponsoring an open source project to make this possible. OCF will unlock the massive opportunity in the IoT market, accelerate industry innovation and help developers and companies create solutions that map to a single open specification. OCF will help ensure secure interoperability for consumers, business, and industry. The AllSeen Alliance now operates under the Open Connectivity Foundation. For more information, please visit www.openconnectivity.org.