CONTACT Software has joined the not-for-profit Eclipse Foundation and will be participating in projects conducted by the "Eclipse IoT Working Group". The members of this working group include Bosch, Red Hat, DB Systel, Deutsche Telekom, Huawei, IBM, SAP, Samsung and Siemens.

"Open source components like the Eclipse development environment, which our customers also use, form the basis of our Elements platform," says CONTACT's head of development, Frank Patz-Brockmann. "Our IoT offering also builds on this platform. Eclipse is initiating important projects to which we want to contribute."

Today more than 30 IoT-related software projects are being conducted under the auspices of the open source organization. CONTACT will be participating in a project aimed at creating an open testbed for Industry 4.0. The Eclipse IoT Working Group will be developing scenarios that demonstrate IT applications for smart factories.

Patz-Brockmann believes that sustainable value added in the Internet of Things will only be possible with the strategic collaboration of other companies and organizations. Smart products and services require a combination of industry and IT know-how. Issues like standards, security, Big Data and many others need to be addressed together. That is why CONTACT is involved in alliances such as the Code of PLM Openess (CPO), Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSCL) and the Eclipse Foundation.

"We are happy to welcome CONTACT Software to the Eclipse Community", says Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. "This is particularly exciting because CONTACT brings profound experience from the manufacturing industry to our IoT Working Group, underlining the important role open source software and the Eclipse Foundation will play in traditional industries".

Eclipse is a community for individuals and organizations who wish to collaborate on open source software. There are over 300 open source projects in the Eclipse community, ranging from tools for software developers, geo-spatial technology, system engineering and embedded development tools, frameworks for IoT solutions, tool for scientific research, and much more. The Eclipse Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation that is the steward of the Eclipse community. More information is available at eclipse.org