Eclipse reaches milestone with Jakarta EE 8 specifications

During the JakartaOne Livestream virtual conference, the Eclipse Foundation announced the release of the Jakarta EE 8 Full Platform and Web Profile specifications and related Technology Compatibility Kits (TCKs). This release provides a new baseline for the evolution and innovation of enterprise Java technologies under an open, vendor-neutral, community-driven process. As a result, Java vendors, developers, and customers alike now have a foundation for migrating mission-critical Java EE applications and workloads to a standard enterprise Java stack for a cloud-native world. This release represents a major milestone for the world's leading innovators in cloud-native Java, including Fujitsu, IBM, Oracle, Payara, Red Hat, Tomitribe, and dedicated independent community members who are collaborating at the Eclipse Foundation to advance Jakarta EE, the successor to Java EE. 

"It's difficult to overstate the significance of this release. There are tens of thousands of companies with strategic investments in Java EE and over 10 million Java developers globally. The finalization of the Jakarta EE 8 specifications means that the transition of Java EE to our new open, vendor-neutral, and community-based process has been completed, and paves the way for an entirely new era in Java innovation for enterprise and cloud workloads. Congratulations and thanks to all of the committers, project leads, and Foundation staff that made delivering the Jakarta EE 8 specifications possible," said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation.

In addition to the release of the Jakarta EE 8 specifications, the Eclipse Foundation is announcing the certification of Eclipse GlassFish 5.1 as an open-source compatible implementation of the Jakarta EE 8 Platform. Eclipse GlassFish 5.1 is fully tested under the open-source licensed Jakarta EE 8 Technology Compatibility Kits (TCKs) for the Full Platform and Web Profiles. Accompanying this release, IBM has announced that Open Liberty has been fully certified as a compatible implementation of the Jakarta EE 8 profiles. All of the vendors in the Jakarta EE Working Group intend to certify their Java EE 8 compatible implementations as Jakarta EE 8 compatible. 

With upwards of 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500 running enterprise Java apps in production, the Jakarta EE 8 specifications give new life to this massive installed base. The specifications are fully compatible with Java EE 8 specifications and include the same APIs and Javadoc using the same programming model they have been using for many years. The Jakarta EE 8 TCKs are based on, and fully compatible with all Java EE 8 TCKs. Jakarta EE 8 will not require any changes to Java EE 8 applications or their use of existing APIs. The specifications were developed under the Jakarta EE Specification Process and Eclipse Development Process, which are the open, community-driven successors to the Java Community Process (JCP) for Java EE.

"I am very excited for the Jakarta EE community as this release demonstrates the strength and breadth of support for the successor to Java EE technologies. We've already certified Open Liberty as a Jakarta EE compatible implementation and look forward to the rapid growth of a standard, open-source, cloud-native platform at the Eclipse Foundation through the Jakarta EE and MicroProfile projects," said Todd Moore, IBM's vice president, Open Technology, IBM Developer and Developer Advocacy.

"Red Hat was one of the founding members of Jakarta EE. We continue to believe that it is incredibly important to move Java EE 8 to the Eclipse Foundation because this gives the wider enterprise Java community a solid foundation upon which they can build their future cloud-native applications. Having Jakarta EE 8 fully compatible with Java EE 8 is likewise important so that existing Java EE 8 applications and developers can be confident they can move their applications seamlessly to the Eclipse Foundation effort," said Mark Little, vice president, engineering at Red Hat. 

The Eclipse Foundation is actively soliciting new members for the Jakarta EE Working Group and encourages enterprises (particularly those involved in the JCP for Java EE) to become members.

In order to better facilitate industry understanding of Jakarta EE specifically and cloud-native Java overall, the Eclipse Foundation is also using this occasion to launch a new eBook called "Fulfilling the Vision for Open Source, Cloud Native Java." This new eBook explores what cloud native Java is, why it matters so much to so many people and provides the community’s perspective of where Jakarta EE technologies are headed.

Quotes from Jakarta EE Working Group Members  

Fujitsu

"Fujitsu is excited to release Jakarta EE 8, which is the first open-source Jakarta EE developed specification in Eclipse and is fully compatible with the Java EE 8 specifications. This will accelerate Jakarta EE and cloud-native technologies. We continue to work with the Java community and make efforts to develop the Java ecosystem by contributing to Eclipse GlassFish and Jakarta EE," said Takashi Fujiwara, SVP, Head of Fujitsu's Software Business Unit.

IBM

"I am very excited for the Jakarta EE community as this release demonstrates the strength and breadth of support for the successor to Java EE technologies. We've already certified Open Liberty as a Jakarta EE compatible implementation and look forward to the rapid growth of a standard, open-source, cloud-native platform at the Eclipse Foundation through the Jakarta EE and MicroProfile projects," said Todd Moore, IBM's vice president, Open Technology, IBM Developer and Developer Advocacy.

Payara

"The Payara Team is truly excited about the release of Jakarta EE 8. First, it is the culmination of a lot of work by all the companies and communities involved in migrating the code, IP, TCKs and specifications over to the Eclipse Foundation. Second, it marks the start of the open evolution and modernization of all the Jakarta EE APIs in an open, inclusive and neutral fashion for the benefit of all users. The Payara Team will be at the forefront of driving this evolution and ensuring that the Payara Platform is a Compatible Implementation of Jakarta EE 8 and beyond," said Steve Millidge, founder of Payara.

Oracle 

"We're extremely pleased that Jakarta EE 8 has been released. This represents the culmination of a great deal of work by the entire Jakarta EE community, including Oracle, and we appreciate everyone's contributions. Oracle is working on the delivery of a Java EE 8 and Jakarta EE 8 compatible WebLogic Server implementation, and we are looking forward to working with the community to evolve Jakarta EE for the future," said Tom Snyder, vice president of Oracle Software Development.  

Red Hat

"Red Hat was one of the founding members of Jakarta EE. We continue to believe that it is incredibly important to move Java EE 8 to the Eclipse Foundation because this gives the wider enterprise Java community a solid foundation upon which they can build their future cloud-native applications. Having Jakarta EE 8 fully compatible with Java EE 8 is likewise important so that existing Java EE 8 applications and developers can be confident they can move their applications seamlessly to the Eclipse Foundation effort," said Mark Little, vice president, engineering at Red Hat.

Tomitribe

"In 20 years working in open source and Java standards, I've never seen such a truly diverse and equally shared effort as that required to ship Jakarta EE 8. Source code has been donated, but what emerged is a community that bravely accepts change, innovates open processes and repeatedly chooses shared victory over individual success. When we look back in 10 years at all we've accomplished in Jakarta, everyone will agree this was the singular moment in time that shaped our future," said David Blevins, Founder, and CEO of Tomitribe.