The Open Group is a global consortium that enables the achievement of business objectives through technology standards.
The Open Group offers its member organizations an effective platform to influence the competitive environment, advance their companies’ positions, and achieve enduring returns on their technology and enterprise investments.
The Open Group members share a vision of Boundaryless Information Flow™ that enables access to integrated information, within and among enterprises, based on open standards and global interoperability. While customers and suppliers work together toward this objective, their membership in The Open Group yields distinctive benefits for individuals and their organizations.
The development of open technology standards addresses both technical and business issues.
Technology standards includes open systems architecture, IT, interoperable process control and sensor systems.
Customers | Technology End-users:
• Stay ahead of the curve by knowing what standards are coming
• Gain better understanding of and compliance with standards
• Protect against obsolescing current investments
• Get insight for future decisions from major customers and suppliers of technology
• Share lessons learned and best practices
• Avoid expensive and futile paths of action
• Know where suppliers are going to ensure compliance and ease integration
Suppliers | Technology Vendors:
• Give customers greater confidence in their skills, knowledge, product quality and interoperability
• Are better aligned with market demand
• Influence the competitive marketplace and advocate for their position
• Gain insight for future decisions from major customers and suppliers of technology
• Reduce time-to-market
• Have access to skilled talent outside your organization
Vendors and suppliers also benefit from having access to major technology buyers. The combined purchasing power of the technology buyers that are members of The Open Group exceeds USD $50 billion per year. That currently represents about 25% of the total technology purchasing power worldwide.
What are the entitlements of membership?
Membership entitles you to participate in The Open Group’s highly influential Forums, Work Groups, and Consortia. Each of these focuses on a specific functional area, and provides an objective environment for member representatives to develop practical standards that drive operational efficiency and solve business problems in an open, timely and predictable manner.
Members Benefits of The Open Group:
• Take an active role in shaping the future of open standards
• Obtain early access to the latest information on technology standards and industry developments
• Network with a world-class community of peers, experts and industry leaders
• Gain insight for future decisions from both major customers and suppliers of technology
• Can work collaboratively on mutually beneficial projects
• Grow professionally, and enhance their credibility as leaders within their organization
Resources
• Influence outcomes that benefit their organizations
• Grow professionally, and enhance their credibility as industry thought leaders
• Gain access to the Members-only section of The Open Group website, which contains copies of all specifications, best practice guides, and other publications from The Open Group, as well as extensive library of relevant working papers and documents
• Receive member newsletters containing updates about the activities of The Open Group, and participate in regular briefing sessions
• Participate as a reviewer in all consensus review cycles relating to specifications and guides produced by Forums and Work Groups
• Participate in Birds-of-a-Feather sessions, which investigate potential new areas of work
• Member pricing for The Open Group events
Community
• Opportunities to exchange ideas, expertise, and lessons learned with leaders and staff of other organizations like yours---both in person and online
• A direct connection to peers, consultants, and industry partners through The Open Group Forums and Work Groups
• Access to members-only discussion groups in a variety of topics, where you and your team can seek practical answers and solutions from peers who have faced similar challenges.
What are the differences between Silver, Gold, and Platinum organizational membership levels?
- Silver Members are entitled to join one Forum of their choice. They may opt for a second Silver Membership if they wish to join another Forum, and may vote for a representative to the Governing Board
- Gold Members are entitled to join any number of Forums open to all members of The Open Group (see list here), and may vote for a representative to the Governing Board
- Platinum Members are entitled to join any number of Forums (see list here). They may also join Forums reserved for Platinum Members only, such as The Open Group Business Forum, and have the right to take a leadership position within The Open Group and the industry with the Platinum entitlement to place company representation on The Governing Board.
If my organization joins as a Silver, Gold, or Platinum member, do we have entitlements in one of The Open Group Consortia?
No. The Open Group FACE Consortium and The Open Group SOSA Consortium are gated to U.S. organizations and the U.S. persons who work for them. While their operations are based on The Open Group Standards Process, they have separate membership agreements. and terms and conditions based on the nature of their work.
Does The Open Group have an individual membership, or do I need to join as an organization?
Only organizations can become a member of The Open Group. Membership is available to supplier companies, end-user customer companies, academic and research institutions, and government agencies. Individuals can participate under their organization's membership.
How do you define an organization as Academic in order to qualify for membership?
The Open Group Academic Membership is available only to research and teaching staff of academic faculty at accredited colleges and universities. Our intention is to enable Academic Members to collaborate on projects that will help to further the IT profession and encourage the development and adoption of open standards. Students cannot participate. Fees: The cost of Academic membership is $1000 for a 1-year period.
Can Government agencies join as members?
Yes. Government agencies with less than 200 staff can become members for $2,500. Government agencies with 200 or more staff can join for $7,500.
There is also a Government Enterprise Architecture Work Group, a joint Work Group between the Architecture Forum and ArchiMate® Forum. The objective of this Work Group is to develop solutions (open standards, best practices, guides, reference architectures, etc.) that will be useful to the Government EA community and to provide a supportive, shared learning environment for Government EAs.
If I have a product or people certification from The Open Group, does that provide me with membership entitlements?
No. A professional certification issued by The Open Group does not include membership in The Open Group. Certification and membership are separate. You can be certified by The Open Group but not be a member representative of The Open Group.
The Open Group professional certification programs are designed to assess professional knowledge, skills, achievements and competencies for various aspects of skills development, such as, TOGAF®, ArchiMate®, Open FAIR™ and IT4IT™ standards.
My organization is listed as a member of The Open Group. How can I participate?
If you are an employee of an organization that is a member of The Open Group (check member list here), then you may be eligible to participate as a member once you register online.
I'm a member of the Association of Enterprise Architects. Does the AEA membership provide any membership entitlements in The Open Group?
No. Membership in the AEA does not include membership entitlements in The Open Group.
Individuals can join the global Association of Enterprise Architects, a professional organization open to anyone interested in Enterprise Architecture. The goals of the AEA are to increase job opportunities for all members and increase their market value by advancing professional excellence.
Is my organization considered a supplier or customer?
Here’s our definition of Supplier and Customer Memberships for The Open Group.
Supplier Organizations: Suppliers are those organizations whose primary business involves the manufacture or supply of technology hardware, software, and related services for commercial purposes.
Customer Organizations: Customer organizations are those who are primarily users of technology hardware, software, and related services.
Note: Very small organizations and one person consulting organizations may opt to self-classify themselves as either suppliers or customers, unless they hold or are required to hold a commercial license to one or more standards of The Open Group, in which case they must classify themselves as suppliers.
