Membership in The Open Group offers a number of important benefits:

• The Open Group provides a neutral platform for buyers and suppliers of IT systems to meet others with similar issues and problems, and work together to solve them.
• Members can participate in work of Forums and/or work areas of their interest, influence the direction of work, and deliverables, and have access to detailed documentation on new and emerging technologies before they are delivered to the market. Each Forum is led by a Forum Director, a specialist whose knowledge of the subject and access to the vendor and user community is available to all members.
• Members pay a reduced rate at The Open Group’s conferences, which provide members with an opportunity to network with their peers. The Open Group’s regional chapters provide an additional opportunity for members to meet with members from the same area. Remote members can work with The Open Group and other members by participating in our regular webcasts and teleconferences.
• Members have access to the "member" sections of The Open Group's web site. These sections provide access to all specifications, best practice guides, and other publications from The Open Group, together with an extensive library of relevant working papers and documents. The Open Group also maintains a searchable Standards Information Base (SIB) comprising more than 300 different standards that can be researched and accessed as needed. Over half of the publications available for instant download from The Open Group website are free to members, but not to non-members.
• Large organizations benefit from the breadth of topics offered by The Open Group and access to the innovations provided by smaller, faster moving organizations on both the buyer and supplier side.
• Small organizations and individual departments in large organizations benefit from the focus of The Open Group's work areas and forums; they gain an awareness of complementary technologies and access to larger buyer and supplier organizations.

Benefits to IT Suppliers:

• Vendors can collaborate on emerging new standards in a vendor-neutral forum that The Open Group provides, and work with The Open Group to demonstrate their compliance with those standards.
• Vendors also benefit from having access to major IT buyers. The combined purchasing power of the IT buyers that are members of The Open Group accounts for $50 billion each year. That currently represents about 25% of the total IT purchasing power worldwide.

Benefits to IT buyers:

• Customers can influence the development of suppliers' products so that those products address real customer requirements and are able to work together. By participating in The Open Group's work areas, buyers can facilitate the development of standards and certification programs, and ultimately benefit from delivering interoperability projects faster and at lower cost.

 

• Participate in four quarterly conferences and member meetings of The Open Group
• Participate in regional events
• Access the ‘Members Only’ section of The Open Group's web site, which contains copies of all specifications, best practice guides, and other publications from The Open Group, together with an extensive library of relevant working papers and documents.
• Participate in the operation of either the Customer Council or the Supplier Council. The councils provide a vehicle for The Open Group to capture, understand, and address emerging requirements, establish policies, and share best practices.
• Receive regular members newsletters containing news about the activities of The Open Group, and participate in regular telecon/webcast briefing sessions.
• Participate as a Reviewer in all consensus review cycles relating to specifications and guides produced by Forums and Work Areas of The Open Group.
• Participate in Birds Of Feather sessions, which investigate potential new areas of work

Based on the agreement, members may:

• Participate in all meetings relating to the selected Forum(s)/Work Area(s).”
• Receive all papers of or from the Forum(s)/Work Area(s).
• Vote in all decisions of the Forum(s)/Work Area(s). Note: Academic members do not have voting rights.
• Receive, and be entitled to participate in, all communication in electronic mail of or from the Forum(s)/Work Area(s).
• Get early access to snapshots, draft specifications, Technical Standards, specifications, and requirements documents as are produced by the Forum(s)/Work Area(s).
• Participate as a Balloter in all consensus review cycles relating to specifications and guides produced by the Forum(s)/Work Area(s).

Take advantage of these benefits and get involved!

Do you have questions? Are you intrigued? Email our Membership services or call 800 916-OPEN (US only) and we will be glad to answer any questions you might have.