News

SmartBear Joins Eclipse MicroProfile Project

• By John K. Waters
• July 14, 2017

The momentum behind the Eclipse MicroProfile Project, an effort to create a baseline platform definition that optimizes enterprise Java for microservices architecture, shows no signs of abating. The latest to join the cause: SmartBear, a Somerville, Mass.-based provider of software quality tools.

SmartBear is probably best known as the company behind the open-source Swagger framework of API developer tools. The company acquired Swagger in 2015 and open sourced the Swagger Specification later that year, creating the Open API Initiative under The Linux Foundation. The project governs the evolution of the Open API Specification (the "Swagger spec"). Version 3.0 of Open API Specification, which adds support for microservices, is set for release later this month.

SmartBear's product portfolio also includes tools for UI testing and code review and performance monitoring across mobile, Web and desktop applications. The company plans to build MicroProfile solutions into its products, said Greg Lord, SmartBear's director of product marketing.

"Organizations like this that drive standards can really drive adoption," Lord told ADTmag. "We have a strong history in open source -- it's part of our DNA -- and we're focused on making the approach to making enterprise Java microservices lightweight and nimble. Supporting this project just seemed to us like a no-brainer."

Originally an independent initiative, MicroProfile.io became an Eclipse project late last year. It was unveiled by its founders -- Red Hat, IBM, Tomitribe, Payara and the London Java Community (LJC) -- at the Devoxx UK and DevNation events in June 2016. (Brazil's SouJava Community joined shortly after the event.) The following September, the MicroProfile 1.0 was announced during the annual JavaOne conference in San Francisco.

The MicroProfile team explained at the time its reasons for choosing the Eclipse Foundation umbrella: "We have determined that we have enough traction with the industry and community to be associated with a foundation. We picked the Eclipse Foundation as a suitable foundation due to its long history of providing great support for the Java Ecosystem and rigor with regards to dealing with IP."

The Eclipse MicroProfile project is led by Kevin Sutter and John Clingan. The first MicroProfile release was based on three existing Java EE technologies: JAX-RS 2.0, CDI 1.2 and JSON-P 1.0. The community is currently planning to produce "time-boxed releases," one every quarter, initially, and is considering upcoming releases, which could include JWT propagation, JCache, Persistence, Bean Validation and Web Sockets.