Thirteen new members have joined OpenAjax, an open industry collaboration dedicated to developing and expanding Ajax, expanding its participation to 28 companies. The members intend to promote Ajax’s promise of universal compatibility with any computer device, application, desktop or operating system, and easy incorporation into new and existing software programs as well as foster Ajax's growth.

Created February 2006, OpenAjax is a collaboration among technology and software businesses to expand Ajax adoption and evolve tools and runtimes that will significantly reduce the development costs and skills required to incorporate Ajax Technology into Web Applications. At that time, Gartner called it a tactical move that tries to exploit the rapidly growing momentum in Ajax. It began modestly, but it was also a well-conceived maneuver that meets a real need for leadership in this space, according to Gartner analysts.

“Conspicuously absent from the initial member list were commercial Ajax vendors such as Tibco Software, JackBe and Backbase Software, as well as non-Ajax vendors such as Adobe, vendor of Macromedia Flex. The initial set is a good start, but wider participation is needed for this to become strategic,” said Gartner.

The new members include Adobe, Backbase, Fair Isaac, ICEsoft, Innoopract, Intel, JackBe, Opera, SAP, Scalix, Software AG, Tibco and XML11. These companies join the initial members including BEA, Borland, the Dojo Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, Google, IBM, Laszlo Systems, Mozilla Corporation, Novell, Openwave Systems, Oracle, Red Hat, Yahoo!, Zend and Zimbra.

“Ajax has re-ignited the imagination and potential of applications on the web. It’s critical that we come together as an industry and define tools and frameworks that integrate seamlessly with each other, and how developers work,” said Todd Hay, director of platform marketing, Adobe. “Ajax shows tremendous promise for the enterprise because of its role in enabling business technology users to become more productive by interacting with a Web browser in new ways,” said Dr. Peter Kurpick, Member of the Board, Software AG.

The OpenAjax community plans to promote a vision of a common Ajax platform within the industry. The members plan to meet in mid-May 2006 at a summit to “discuss the present usage of Ajax, its growth into new markets and then create a business and technical roadmap by which the OpenAjax companies can work toward more universal Ajax support across the desktop and mobile devices.”