Open Microscopy Environment
Open Microscopy Environment (OME) is an academic consortium producing open-source software (OMERO, Bio-Formats) and format standards (OME-TIFF, OME-Zarr) for managing, sharing, and analyzing biological microscopy data, serving research institutions, universities, and pharma globally via grant funding and Glencoe Software commercial licensing.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersDundee, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Open Microscopy Environment does
Open Microscopy Environment (OME) is an academic consortium founded in 2005 and headquartered in Dundee, United Kingdom, that develops open-source software and data format standards for biological microscopy. Its product portfolio centers on three interoperable artifacts: OMERO, a client-server platform (with OMERO.insight desktop, OMERO.web browser, OMERO.cli command-line, and OMERO.server backend) for managing, visualizing, and analyzing microscopy images and metadata; Bio-Formats, a Java library supporting over 140 proprietary microscopy file formats and integrating with ImageJ/Fiji, CellProfiler, Icy, KNIME, MATLAB, R, Python, and Octave; and the OME Files (C++) reference implementation underpinning the OME-TIFF and OME-Zarr (OME-NGFF) format specifications. The OME Data Model functions as an open metadata standard preserved across all artifacts, and the consortium co-develops the Image Data Resource (IDR) and BioImage Archive with EMBL-EBI.
OME's go-to-market is community-led: software is freely available under GNU GPL or BSD-2 open-source licenses, distributed via GitHub, PyPI, Docker Hub, and Conda, and supported through workshops, training, the image.sc forum, and weekly community meetings. Direct revenue does not exist as a reported line item — the consortium is funded by peer-reviewed grants from Wellcome Trust, UKRI, BBSRC, Horizon 2020, NIH, and the European Commission, with named multi-year awards including Wellcome 313803/Z/24/Z and UKRI UKRI304. Commercial licensing, enterprise support, and the OMERO Plus platform are provided exclusively through Glencoe Software under separate license from University of Dundee (and University of Wisconsin for Bio-Formats). Named reference deployments span Cell Image Library, Stowers Institute, Harvard LINCS, SSBD, PDBe, IDR, Queensland Brain Institute, University of Liverpool, and Allen Cell Explorer, with named industry partners including Carl Zeiss, Leica, and AstraZeneca.
Open Microscopy Environment firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Open Microscopy Environment
- Legal name
- Open Microscopy Environment
- Website
- https://openmicroscopy.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Open Microscopy Environment (OME) is an academic consortium producing open-source software (OMERO, Bio-Formats) and format standards (OME-TIFF, OME-Zarr) for managing, sharing, and analyzing biological microscopy data, serving research institutions, universities, and pharma globally via grant funding and Glencoe Software commercial licensing.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Open Microscopy Environment industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Bioimage Data Management Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Bioinformatics & Multi-omics Analysis Software (HLAGAJAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Single-Cell & Spatial Omics Services (HLAGANAC)
Keywords
Where Open Microscopy Environment is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Dundee
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices6 records
Markets served
Open Microscopy Environment business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Grant Funding: Funded through peer-reviewed grants from UK and EU agencies including Wellcome Trust, UKRI, BBSRC, Horizon 2020, NIH, and European Commission. All development is tied to real world scientific use cases through academic and commercial partnerships.
- Commercial Licensing: Glencoe Software provides commercially licensed, supported and customized versions of Bio-Formats and OMERO. OMERO Plus platform deployed in academic, biotech and pharma institutions. Commercial licensing for non-GPL use cases.
- Professional Services: Training workshops, custom development, and support services offered through the community and commercial partner Glencoe Software.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Open Source (Free) |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels9 records
Open Microscopy Environment product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OME develops and distributes open-source software and open data format standards for the storage, visualization, analysis and sharing of biological microscopy images. Its core offerings are OMERO (a client-server image data management platform), Bio-Formats (a Java library reading and writing 140+ microscope file formats), and the OME File Formats specification (OME-TIFF and the cloud-optimized OME-Zarr / NGFF), all backed by the OME Data Model and supported by an active academic and commercial community.
Product overview
Open Microscopy Environment (OME) is a consortium producing open-source software and format standards for microscopy data. The product portfolio centers on three core products: OMERO is the enterprise image data management platform (with OMERO.insight desktop client, OMERO.web web client, OMERO.cli command-line interface, and OMERO.server backend) for managing, visualizing, and analyzing microscopy images; Bio-Formats is a Java library reading over 160 proprietary file formats and converting them to OME-based standards; and OME Files is the C++ reference implementation of the OME data model and OME-TIFF format. OME also develops the OME-Zarr cloud-optimized format specification. The ecosystem includes multiple web apps built on OMERO.web (OMERO.figure, OMERO.iviewer, OMERO.mapr, OMERO.gallery, OMERO.webtagging, OMERO.FPBioimage), and the Image Data Resource (IDR) public data repository. OME tools integrate with ImageJ/Fiji, CellProfiler, Icy, KNIME, MATLAB, R, Python, Java, C++, and Octave.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- OMERO: Client-server software for managing, visualizing and analyzing microscopy images and associated metadata. An enterprise image data management platform enabling access, processing, sharing, analysis and publication of scientific image data.
- Bio-Formats
- OME File Formats
- OME Files
- OME-NGFF
- Image Data Resource (IDR)
Products and services
- OMERO Client-server enterprise platform for managing, visualizing and analyzing microscopy images and associated metadata, supporting over 150 image file formats. Includes OMERO.server (backend), OMERO.insight (Java desktop client), OMERO.web (Python web client) and OMERO.cli (command-line interface). Used by scientists, developers and institutions.
- Bio-Formats Java library for reading and writing microscopy image data, supporting over 140 proprietary file formats and converting them to open OME-based formats. Distributed with an ImageJ/Fiji plugin, MATLAB toolbox, Octave package and Python wrapper, and incorporated into analysis tools such as OMERO, CellProfiler and Icy.
- OME Files (C++) C++ reference implementation of the OME data model and OME-TIFF file format for developers who want to embed OME standards into their own software products and pipelines.
- OME-TIFF Standard open file format specification combining TIFF with OME-based XML metadata for broad compatibility and rich metadata support across microscopes and analysis tools.
- OME-Zarr (OME-NGFF) Cloud-optimized open specification, developed under the OME-NGFF project, for storing large multi-dimensional microscopy image data in a chunked, compressed, scalable format suitable for cloud object stores.
- Image Data Resource (IDR) Public reference repository of high-quality image datasets from published scientific studies, enabling community submission, search and access to bio-image data and serving as a baseline benchmark for the OME ecosystem.
- OMERO Plus (commercial edition via Glencoe Software) Commercially licensed, supported and customized edition of OMERO (and Bio-Formats) sold exclusively by Glencoe Software for non-GPL use cases, including enterprise support, custom development and proprietary licensing for biotech and pharma customers.
Companies that use Open Microscopy Environment
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Open Microscopy Environment technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration12 records
Feature5 records
Open Microscopy Environment partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Glencoe SoftwarecoreOME's commercial arm providing commercially licensed, supported and customized versions of Bio-Formats and OMERO. OMERO Plus platform deployed in academic, biotech and pharma institutions worldwide. Holds exclusive commercial license for OMERO from University of Dundee and for Bio-Formats from University of Dundee and University of Wisconsin.
- Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbHcoreMajor commercial imaging hardware manufacturer supporting OME-TIFF format.
- Leica Inc.coreMajor commercial imaging hardware manufacturer supporting OME-TIFF format.
- European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)coreCollaborative partner hosting BioImage Archive and co-developing Image Data Resource (IDR) with OME.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Open Microscopy Environment competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- CellProfiler: Open-source high-content image analysis software that uses Bio-Formats for format support and OME standards for data export. Same target users (biologists running HCS/phenotyping screens) and same community-driven development model.
- ImageJ / Fiji: Open-source scientific image analysis suite that bundles Bio-Formats as its native file reader. Same open-source community ethos and complementary functionality in the image-processing layer; together they form the de facto bioimage analysis stack.
- QuPath: Open-source bioimage analysis platform focused on digital pathology and whole-slide imaging. Overlaps with OME in microscopy data management and uses Bio-Formats; competes for the same core imaging facility users.
- Glencoe Software: Exclusive commercial licensee of OMERO and Bio-Formats, providing OMERO Plus enterprise support and customized image data management to academic, biotech, and pharma. Operationally and strategically the closest peer — same IP, different monetization model.
Broad incumbents
- Bitplane (Imaris): Commercial 3D/4D microscopy image analysis platform (Imaris) that supports OME formats. Targeted at the same high-end microscopy users in pharma and academia but as part of a broader commercial analytics portfolio.
- arivis: Commercial microscopy image analysis platform with 2D/3D/4D capabilities and cloud/SaaS deployment. Competes with OMERO for high-end microscopy data visualization and analysis in biotech/pharma.
- Carl Zeiss Microscopy (ZEN): Major microscope OEM whose ZEN software is increasingly integrated with OME formats. Core partner in the OME-TIFF/OME-Zarr ecosystem, but a broad incumbent in the imaging stack with overlapping data management capabilities.
- Revvity (formerly PerkinElmer) — Columbus / Signals Image: Commercial high-content screening and image data management platform (Columbus). Overlaps with OMERO for HCS workflows in pharma/biotech; broader life-sciences informatics portfolio with stronger commercial position.
- Leica Microsystems (LAS X): Major microscope OEM whose LAS X platform supports OME formats. Same end-user base in academic and pharma imaging cores; competes on integrated vendor stack vs OME's open format philosophy.
Emerging players
- Napari: Fast-growing open-source Python-native multi-dimensional image viewer built on the OME-Zarr ecosystem. Strong overlap with OME's newer nD cloud-native workflows; community-led, but a potential long-term substitute for OMERO.iviewer.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Open Microscopy Environment social profiles
Digital presenceOpen Microscopy Environment financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Open Microscopy Environment leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
Open Microscopy Environment funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Open Microscopy Environment M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Open Microscopy Environment
What does Open Microscopy Environment do?
OME develops and distributes open-source software and open data format standards for the storage, visualization, analysis and sharing of biological microscopy images. Its core offerings are OMERO (a client-server image data management platform), Bio-Formats (a Java library reading and writing 140+ microscope file formats), and the OME File Formats specification (OME-TIFF and the cloud-optimized OME-Zarr / NGFF), all backed by the OME Data Model and supported by an active academic and commercial community.
Is Open Microscopy Environment a public or private company?
Open Microscopy Environment is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Open Microscopy Environment founded?
Open Microscopy Environment was founded in 2005. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Open Microscopy Environment based?
Open Microscopy Environment is headquartered in Dundee, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Open Microscopy Environment make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Grant Funding is the primary driver. The others are commercial Licensing and professional Services.
Who are Open Microscopy Environment's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are CellProfiler, ImageJ / Fiji, QuPath and Glencoe Software. Broad incumbents are Bitplane (Imaris), arivis, Carl Zeiss Microscopy (ZEN), Revvity (formerly PerkinElmer) — Columbus / Signals Image and Leica Microsystems (LAS X). Napari is listed as an emerging player.
Does Open Microscopy Environment have an API?
Yes. OMERO provides a public API allowing clients to be written in Java, Python, C++ or MATLAB, using the Ice remoting framework. The OMERO platform includes a Java client (OMERO.insight), a Python-based web client (OMERO.web), a Command Line Interface which uses Python, and a Java ImageJ plugin. OMERO also supports a scripting service which allows Python scripts to be run on the server and called from any of the other clients. Developer documentation is at omero.readthedocs.io/en/stable/developers/index.html.
What industry is Open Microscopy Environment in?
Open Microscopy Environment's product category is Bioimage Data Management Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAJAD, Bioinformatics & Multi-omics Analysis Software, with a secondary code of HLAGANAC, Single-Cell & Spatial Omics Services. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7373.