OpenAjax Alliance goes live

The OpenAjax Alliance has officially launched with the unveiling of a website detailing its strategic goals. 

The organisation aims to promote the use of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) by resolving technical and interoperability issues. It also plans to develop marketing initiatives to advocate the use of Ajax technology among developers.

Ajax is one of the major enablers of so-called Web 2.0 sites such as Flickr and Digg.com. It lets a website pre-fetch data, allowing it to become more responsive and deliver a user experience resembling conventional applications. 

"The momentum and benefits of the OpenAjax collaboration are important factors in advancing the adoption of Ajax technology across the industry," said Jon Ferraiolo, acting director of the OpenAjax Alliance and an IBM engineer.

"Ajax is a major phenomenon in the computer industry and will be the foundation of the next generation of the web. Our mission is to accelerate customer success with Ajax through our technical and marketing activities."

The group has nearly doubled its membership since launching in February. Current members include Adobe, Backbase, BEA, DoJo Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, Google, IBM, Novell, Oracle, SAP and Red Hat.

The group plans to meet in Silicon Valley during early October to coincide with the Ajax World conference in Santa Clara, California.