* Broad Commercial Support For Open Source Templates and Applications
* Apache V2 Licensing Delivers Royalty Free Source Code
* Industry Leaders Join to Form Initial Steering Committee

Dusseldorf, Germany 12 May, 2009: Deutsche Notes User Group (DNUG) – OpenNTF, an open consortium of developers that provide templates and applications for the IBM Notes and Domino Platform announced the transformation of the OpenNTF to open source licensing and its new governing steering committee.  

OpenNTF is a development community devoted to getting groups of individuals all over the world to collaborate on Lotus Notes/Domino applications and release them as open source.   OpenNTF also provides a framework for the community so that open source applications may be freely distributed, using widely accepted licensing terms.  The mission of OpenNTF is to increase the quality and quantity of templates, applications and samples that are shared by the community.  The new bylaws and operating principles of the organization are published at http://www.OpenNTF.org.

OpenNTF provides source code building blocks, templates, and running examples that facilitate rapid application development for the Notes and Domino platform.  By making code assets on OpenNTF available under the Apache License V2, individuals are able to create derivative works with worldwide re-distribution rights that are royalty free.

The steering committee members were chosen from thought and market leaders in the Notes and Domino development community, with representation from the following companies: Elguji Software LLC, IBM Corp., Lotus 911 Inc., PAVONE AG,
Prominic.NET, PSC Group LLC, SNAPPS Consulting, Teamstudio Inc. and VinceSchuurman.com.

Industry Leaders Serving on the OpenNTF Steering Committee:

Elguji Software, LLC               Bruce Elgort
Lotus 911 Inc.                         Nathan Freeman
VinceSchuurman.com            Vince Schuurman
PAVONE AG                          Ludwig Nastansky
Prominic.NET                         Justin Hill
PSC Group, LLC                    John Head
SNAPPS Consulting              Rob Novak
IBM Corp.                               Brent Peters
Teamstudio Inc.                      Scott Johnsen

As with other open source communities, OpenNTF brings together the broad participation needed to establish, refine and promote high-quality shared software technology. By taking advantage of OpenNTF, software tools developers are free to focus on their domains of expertise. OpenNTF currently has over 60,000 subscribers, with over 10,000 downloads logged monthly.

"OpenNTF has played an important role in the success of Lotus Notes and Domino as it has provided a place for companies to go and download world class application templates."  said Bruce Elgort, President, Elgui Software, LLC.  "As one of the OpenNTF Co-Founders I am extremely happy and proud to see IBM's involvement with it as this helps solidify the mission of the organization."

"OpenNTF has been the hub of the Lotus Notes and Domino open source community for five years.  With this reorganization, we are taking that community to a new level of scope and commitment." said Nathan T. Freeman, Director of Application Development for Lotus 911.  "Developer toolkits, best practices standards, and most of all, high-quality usable business applications assets will extend the power of Notes and Domino, creating tremendous immediate value for partners and customers alike."

"OpenNTFs mission of providing open source will enable the Notes and Domino development community to collaborate to bring high quality applications to market quickly" said Vince Schuurman, chair of OpenNTF.

"We have been heavily involved in the Notes and Domino development community for more than 18 years," said Ludwig Nastansky, PAVONE AG, Chairman Supervisory Board. "As a founding member of the steering committee, we are committed to ensuring that developers have the templates, tools and applications they need to bring solutions into the market quickly."

"As the Notes and Domino development community grows, open source templates and applications provide developers with the best practices and code that they need to get solutions out the door quickly.," said Justin Hill, CTO of Prominic.NET Inc. "We are pleased to be taking a leadership position with OpenNTF and to host the OpenNTF web site."

"Notes and Domino have always been a platform where applications can be quickly developed and deployed - the distribution and a collaborative community development space is what has been missing" said John Head, Director of Enterprise Collaboration of PSC Group LLC and OpenNTF steering committee member. "As the original hosting provider for OpenNTF, PSC has always been a supporter of the application platform that Notes and Domino provides. We look forward to helping OpenNTF grow to becoming the heart of the Lotus development community."

"We've long been proponents of giving away valuable examples and templates to further the Lotus brand." said Rob Novak, President of SNAPPS. "With OpenNTF, it’s now much easier for organizations to take something that works and modify it for their own use. I am proud to serve as a founding member of the OpenNTF steering committee."

 “Open source isn’t limited to individuals and rogue Lotus Notes/Domino developers anymore”, said Scott Johnsen, Vice President of Marketing and Alliances at Teamstudio. “The development and management of Lotus Notes/Domino applications can benefit from fresh ideas, and some of the best innovation can be found within the core Lotus Notes/Domino community.”



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