The Eclipse Foundation and the Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) collaborate to improve open source software development standards

BRUSSELS and BERLIN, Sept. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Eclipse Foundation, one of the largest open source foundations in the world, and the Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN), the German Standards Institute, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on filling the gaps between classical standardization and open source software development in Germany and the entire EU. This agreement represents one of the first collaborations between industrial standards bodies and open source software foundations, with the shared goal of enabling industry and enterprise to confidently use and adopt open source technologies.

“Open source software has historically been the domain of enterprise applications. However, in recent years, the open source model has been applied to large-scale implementations in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, automotive, robotics, and more. These sectors rely heavily on industry standards to ensure safe production,” said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. “As the leading open source foundation in the EU, especially for many of the technologies focused on these industries, it makes sense to work closely with DIN, the EU’s leading authority on industrial standards.”

As Germany’s national standards organization and member of ISO, DIN is one of the world’s leading authorities on the development of industrial standards. Today, there are over thirty thousand DIN standards covering almost every field of technology.

The Memorandum of Understanding establishes a framework for cooperation aimed at promoting mutual interests in improving open source software standards. Key points include:

• Knowledge exchange: Sharing relevant information about open source software standards and development, governance, and best practices.
• Research and innovation activities: Collaboration on projects, workshops and publications related to the standardization and implementation of open source.
• Special offer: Highlighting the importance of open source software standards and development to support innovation, interoperability and sustainability.
• Open source development: Facilitate the use of DIN services and infrastructure in Eclipse projects and engage in joint initiatives.
• Standardization contribution: Providing support and guidance for standardization projects, including the Cyber ​​Resilience Act.

The Cyber ​​Resilience Act (CRA) is one of the most important regulatory changes in the area of ​​cyber security in the European Union. The aim of this regulation is to increase the security of products and services containing digital components in order to significantly improve resistance to cyber threats. Thanks to the CRA (as well as the Artificial Intelligence Act and the Data Act), the IT sector is now regulated more stringently than before. These regulations set out basic requirements. The technical specification is created by harmonized standards that are developed jointly by experts from business, science, the public sector and civil society in the European standardization organizations CEN and CENELEC.

The CRA is now calling for the definition of specific protection goals for software and software systems. The latest draft EU standardization mandate identifies 41 areas for this purpose. The participation and expertise of the open source sector are essential to develop harmonized standards in the context of credit rating agencies. As a strong partner, DIN will provide guidance and support, working with the Eclipse Foundation to best reflect the perspective of the open source sector, which the CRA has a strong influence on.

“At DIN, we are seeing a significant increase in the number of applications shaping industrial processes and influencing technology in many industries,” said Christoph Winterhalter, CEO of DIN and vice president for ISO policy. “Today’s agreement is an important first step in aligning the EU’s rapidly growing open source innovations with standardization practices that will ensure broad industry adoption. Standardization and open source can learn a lot from each other and, by leveraging synergies, ensure even greater trust and better interoperability in the future.

Find out more at Open Community Experience (OCX)a transformational conference for open source developers taking place October 22-24, 2024 in Mainz, Germany. Visit the OCX website for details on sponsorship and participation.

About the Eclipse Foundation
The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of people and organizations with a business-friendly environment for collaboration and innovation in open source software. We host Eclipse IDE, Adoptium, Software Defined Vehicle, Jakarta EE and over 415 open source projects including runtimes, tools, specifications and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, systems engineering, open processor projects, and many others. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the Eclipse Foundation is an international non-profit association supported by over 360 members. Visit us at this year’s fair Open Community Experience (OCX) conference on October 22-24, 2024 in Mainz, Germany. To learn more, follow us on social media @EclipseFdn, LinkedInor visit eclipse.org.

About DIN
DIN, the German Institute for Standardization, is an independent standardization platform in Germany and worldwide. Together with industry, scientific institutions, public authorities and civil society as a whole, DIN plays a major role in identifying future areas for standardization. By helping to shape the green and digital transformation, DIN makes an important contribution to solving current challenges and enables new technologies, products and processes to establish themselves in the market and in society. More than 37,500 experts from industry, research, consumer protection and the public sector contribute their knowledge to work on standardization projects managed by DIN. The result of these efforts are market-oriented standards and specifications that promote global trade by encouraging rationalization, quality assurance and environmental protection, as well as improved safety and communications. For more information, go to www.din.de.

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