The Eclipse Foundation has launched a new initiative to support user driven development of location aware systems. The new LocationTech working group will allow companies to jointly develop and deploy components that bring location awareness to Enterprise IT.

The Eclipse LocationTech initiative is led by Oracle, IBM, OpenGeo, and Actuate. The Eclipse Foundation, through LocationTech, will provide the IT infrastructure and governance to develop location aware software components and grow their user driven communities. LocationTech will also enable an ecosystem of service providers, technology providers and large enterprise consumers deploying systems using this technology. The initiative is open to any organization with an interest in adding location awareness to their business.

"Location is important to a growing range of businesses, and seamless integration with other information technology is crucial," said Mike Milinkovich, Executive Director, Eclipse Foundation. "By creating a multi-vendor, open platform for location technologies we intend to spur even broader adoption of location aware products, devices and services.”

“Location and time are integral to data analysis. The insights and critical thinking that arise from effective data analysis are important to solve challenges in business and society,” said Brenda Dietrich, IBM Fellow, Vice President & CTO for Business Analytics, Software Group, IBM.

LocationTech has been established as an Eclipse Industry Working Group and will operate under the governance of the Eclipse Foundation.