Alfresco unveils open source BPM platform

Embeddable BPM engine designed to operate in scalable cloud environments

Open source enterprise content management firm Alfresco Software has launched Activiti Business Process Management open source project, a new Apache-licensed open source BPM platform designed from a blank slate to implement the new BPMN 2.0 standard from the Object Management Group (OMG) and to support new technology challenges such as interoperability and the cloud.

The company also appointed BPM expert Tom Baeyens as the new chief architect for BPM. Mr Baeyens, founder and architect of the JBoss jBPM project and fellow architect Joram Barrez, join Alfresco to create the first Apache-licensed BPMN 2.0 engine.

According to Alfresco Software, an independently-run and open source project Activiti will work independently of the Alfresco open source ECM system. It will be licensed under Apache License 2.0 to encourage widespread usage and adoption of the Activiti BPM engine and BPMN 2.0, which is being finalised as standard by OMG. Joining Alfresco in the Activiti project is the SpringSource division of VMware.

The first alpha release of Activiti includes capabilities such as Activiti Engine, a JAR file containing the process virtual machine and BPMN process language implementation; Activiti Probe, a system administration console to control and operate the Activiti Engine; Activiti Explorer, an end-user application for managing task lists and executing process tasks; and Activiti Modeler, a browser-based and Ajax-enabled BPMN 2.0 process modeling tool designed for business analysts.

Alfresco said that it will continue to support jBPM and other business process engines integrated with its ECM software. It will also offer support, maintenance and indemnity for the Activiti suite alongside the Alfresco Enterprise Edition.

John Newton, CTO of Alfresco Software, said: “We initiated this project to make content and process technologies more broadly available and ubiquitous. We did this because, like other open source projects, we needed a more liberally-licensed process engine. We believe this can transform the business process industry as Alfresco has done for the ECM industry.”

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