Archive for June 2020
Jakarta EE Is Taking Off
With the results of the 2020 Jakarta EE survey and the initial milestone release of the Jakarta EE 9, it’s clear the community’s collective efforts are resonating with the global Java ecosystem.
Before I get to the survey results, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in the survey. We received nearly 2,200 responses from software developers, architects, and decision-makers around the world — an increase of almost 20 percent over last year’s survey. With your insight, we’ve gained a clear and comprehensive view of enterprise Java strategies and priorities globally, which in turn we are freely sharing with the ecosystem.
Jakarta EE Adoption and Compatible Implementations Are on the Rise
Less than a year after its initial release, Jakarta EE has emerged as the second-place cloud native framework with 35 percent of respondents saying they use it. While the Spring and Spring Boot frameworks are still the leading choices for building cloud native applications, their usage share dropped 13 percent to 44 percent in the 2020 survey results.
Combined, Java EE 8 and Jakarta EE 8 hit the mainstream with 55 percent adoption. Jakarta EE 8 was responsible for 17 percent of that usage, despite only shipping for the first time in September 2019. This is truly significant growth.
We’re also seeing a strong uptick in Jakarta EE 8 compatible products. Companies including IBM, Red Hat, Payara, Primeton, TmaxSoft, and Apusic now have Jakarta EE 8 Full Platform compatible products. Since January 2020, we’ve had four new Full Platform compatible implementations and one new Web Profile compatible implementation. In addition to Eclipse GlassFish 5.1, this brings Jakarta EE 8 adoption to 12 compatible products. This is an outstanding achievement for the Jakarta EE community to have more full platform compatible products in 8 months than Java EE 8 had in over 2 years. You can see the complete list here.
You can also expect to see additional compatible implementations in the coming months as more applications are passing Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) tests and are well on their way to becoming certified as Jakarta EE 8-compatible products.
Architectural Approaches Are Evolving
This year’s Jakarta EE survey also showed a slight drop in the popularity of using a microservices architecture for implementing Java systems in the cloud compared to last year. At the same time, use of monolithic architectures for implementing Java systems in the cloud nearly doubled since last year’s survey and is now at 25 percent.
These results may indicate that companies are pragmatically choosing to simply “lift and shift” existing applications to the cloud instead of rearchitecting them as microservices.
Interestingly, the survey also indicated the Jakarta EE community would like to see better support for microservices in the platform. When you combine this fact with the rise of Jakarta EE, it’s reasonable to believe developers may be starting to favor vendor-neutral standards for building Java microservices over single-vendor microservices frameworks.
The Industry Is Moving to the New Jakarta EE Namespace
The support we’re seeing for the adoption of the new namespace in Jakarta EE 9 reinforces the value the industry sees in Jakarta EE. Technology leaders are already investing to ensure their software supports the Jakarta EE 9 namespace changes and others have indicated they will do the same. Some of these implementations include:
- Eclipse GlassFish 6.0 milestone release is available to download
- Jetty 11.0.0-alpha0 milestone release is available to download
- Apache Tomcat 10.0 M6 milestone release is available to download
- Payara Platform 6 milestone release coming in Q4 2020
- OpenLiberty 20.0.0.7 Beta release is available with basic Web application support to download
- Apache TomEE 9.0 milestone release using Eclipse Transformer project tools is available to download
- WildFly 21 is planning a milestone release for fall 2020
- Piranha Micro p20.6.1 milestone release is available to download.
While the Jakarta EE 9 tooling release doesn’t include new features, it’s a very important and necessary step on the road to Jakarta EE 10 and the next era of innovation using cloud native technologies for Java. With the full Jakarta EE 9 release in fall this year, Jakarta EE will be ideally positioned to drive true open source, cloud native innovation using Java.
Diversity, Achieved
One of the items that I am particularly happy about is the achievement of establishing Jakarta EE as a vendor-neutral, community-led technology platform. When we started the process of moving Java EE from Oracle to the Eclipse Foundation there were some who doubted that it could be accomplished successfully. The numbers tell the story: Oracle’s contributions are still leading the pack at 27%, but the community-at-large is
now over 40%. Contributions from our other members are led by Payara, VMware (Pivotal), Red Hat, and IBM. Based on these results, it is clear that Jakarta EE has truly achieved its original objective of becoming a vendor-neutral, community-led industry initiative. A lot of people worked very hard to achieve this, and I’m thrilled by the results.
Discover Jakarta EE
Here are three ways to learn more about Jakarta EE and understand why it’s gaining mainstream adoption so quickly:
- Join the community at the Jakarta EE 9 Milestone Release Virtual Party and networking opportunity on Tuesday, June 23 at 11:00 a.m. EDT. To register for the event, click here.
- Find out more about the Jakarta EE 9 milestone release here.
- Review the complete 2020 Jakarta EE Survey results here.
Edit: Reflect IBM’s contributions
Edit #2: Add link to Apache TomEE download
Eclipse Foundation Support for the Black Community
The events of the past several weeks have reminded us yet again that racism remains a reality in our society. It is terribly sad and frustrating to be reminded that in 2020 hate and injustice still rule the lives of so many. It is heartbreaking that we even have to say “Black lives matter”. I and the Eclipse Foundation stand in solidarity with the Black community and will continue our efforts to provide an inclusive, diverse, and welcoming community for all.
I encourage everyone in the Eclipse community to listen and learn from our colleagues who have experienced racism, whether personally or professionally. It is only by opening our hearts and our minds to the experiences of others that we can overcome fear and bias.
For sixteen years the Eclipse Foundation has been home to an open, welcoming, and diverse community. But we all can, and must, do more to reject discrimination and foster mutual understanding and respect. I am committed to furthering the discussion and encourage foundation staff and the broader Eclipse community to contact me with ideas about how we can become more inclusive.
2020 Annual Report: Our Momentum Reflects Major Industry Trends
We have released the 2020 Annual Eclipse Foundation Community Report today and it highlights the Eclipse Foundation’s incredible growth and evolution over the past year. Our community’s momentum — from a record number of new members and greater membership diversity to our expansion into new technology areas and transition to Europe — reflects significant shifts that are occurring in our industry.
Companies Are Becoming Software-Centric
Digitalization is the single biggest industry trend in the world today. Companies in every sector are realizing the economic value that’s unlocked by software innovations that enable digital capabilities and business models.
This trend is a key reason more than 50 new members have joined the Eclipse Foundation since the beginning of 2020 and five new working groups have been established.
Companies are investing in open source strategies even as the world is experiencing major economic turmoil because they realize it’s the only way to keep pace with global innovation and thrive.
Software Consumers Want to Influence Software Evolution
The broad diversity of companies joining the Eclipse Foundation reflects another industry trend: The next big wave in open source adoption and innovation will be led by companies we traditionally thought of as consumers of software technologies rather than producers.
These companies want to shift from providing suppliers and partners with specifications that must be met to laying out requirements. NASA adopted this strategy a number of years ago and it led to the recent Falcon 9 rocket launch with SpaceX.
Chevron, a multinational oil, gas, and energy company, is taking the same approach. Chevron joined the Eclipse Foundation to become actively involved in the Sparkplug Working Group to ensure the Sparkplug specification, which defines how to use the MQTT protocol in mission-critical, real-time environments, includes their requirements for multi-vendor interoperability. This will allow Chevron to require that its suppliers comply with the Sparkplug specification with full confidence the resulting products will interoperate with the company’s existing equipment.
Open Source Benefits Extend Beyond Software
Our strategic partnership with the not-for-profit OpenHW Group is our first involvement in an open hardware initiative. The OpenHW Group supports development of the CORE-V family of RISC-V-based open source cores, related IP, tools, and software. It’s a new, interesting, and important domain for us. It’s also the first time the Foundation has joined forces with a separate nonprofit entity to develop a new technology under the Eclipse Development Process.
Open hardware is a rapidly growing area and the OpenHW Group is doing amazing work to become the vector of commercialization for the RISC-V instruction set architecture. I think they’re taking the right approach and I’m personally very excited about the technology and our partnership.
Our Investments Are Paying Off
To align with industry trends and help ensure our ongoing relevance in a changing world, the Eclipse Foundation made a number of strategic investments over the past year.
Our recently announced transition to a European organization is a prime example. We see a huge opportunity to support European companies, organizations, and governments with an open source foundation with the international reach and reputation needed to execute on their goals, strategies, and policies.
The 2020 Community Report confirms our investments are starting to pay off and I want to sincerely thank everyone who has helped drive our evolution and expansion. Supporting the incredible number of activities we’re involved in is not easy, and our internal team and community members have dedicated tremendous time and effort to make it all happen.
Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
I strongly encourage everyone to question their preconceived, historical notions about what the Eclipse Foundation is and what it does. With more than 375 projects in our technology portfolio, there are likely projects and opportunities you’re not aware of that could be bringing value to your daily life as a developer or to your organization.
Take a few minutes to step outside your immediate area of involvement in the Foundation and discover the breadth and depth of activities in the broader Eclipse community:
Share Your Thoughts
As always, we welcome your comments and feedback. Let us know your thoughts at emo@eclipse.org or on Twitter @EclipseFdn.
To read the 2020 Annual Eclipse Foundation Community Report, click here.
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