What OpenNTF does

OpenNTF is a community-driven open source organization founded around 2001 and incorporated as OpenNTF Inc. in Boca Raton, Florida, dedicated to sustaining and extending the HCL Domino, IBM Notes, and XPages collaboration platforms. Its core offering is a project hosting repository and developer community that produces reusable code libraries, snippets, and tooling — including the NSF File Server (an OSGi-based SFTP server backed by NSF databases), NSF ODP Tooling (Maven/Eclipse tooling for on-disk project compilation and deployment), XPages Jakarta EE Support, WebFinger for Domino, and the LangChain4j for Domino AI integration library. Projects are distributed under Apache License 2.0 and GPL v3 through openntf.org and GitHub repositories (github.com/openntf and github.com/OpenCode4Connections), governed by a formal IP framework with ICLA/CCLA agreements and an appointed IP Manager.

OpenNTF's primary "customers" are HCL Domino/XPages developers and Domino server administrators — a niche but entrenched persona segment — with downstream usage by organizations deploying HCL collaboration solutions. The organization maintains a multi-channel engagement model: monthly webinars, an active Discord server, blog content, YouTube recordings, and social presence on Twitter/X and Facebook. It hosts the Collaboration Today news portal and provides a Snippets repository (XSnippets.nsf) as additional developer resources.

The business model is non-commercial: OpenNTF explicitly operates without paid tiers, subscriptions, or premium features, and the source material describes it as a nonprofit community initiative with no revenue-generating activities. Strategic continuity is anchored by a flagship-level partnership with HCL Technologies, which has used OpenNTF as the open source home for transitioning IBM Connections. Infrastructure is provided pro bono or at cost by partners including Prominic.NET (hosting) and Oval Business Solutions (web design). Recent activity shows a deliberate pivot toward AI integration across the Domino stack, exemplified by the Domino Admin AI Tool, LangChain4j for Domino, and featured webinars on Domino IQ RAG Enablement.

Name

OpenNTF

Legal name

OpenNTF Inc.

Website

https://openntf.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

OpenNTF is a 20-year-old, community-run open source organization that hosts and develops reusable libraries, tooling, and snippets for the HCL Domino, IBM Notes, and XPages developer ecosystem. It distributes free projects under Apache 2.0 and GPL v3, anchored by a flagship strategic partnership with HCL Technologies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Enterprise Collaboration Open Source Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Software Publishers (513210), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Open-Source & Developer Communities (BPAMABAM)

Keywords

• Open source collaboration
• HCL Domino tools
• XPages development
• Enterprise collaboration software
• Developer community platforms

Headquarters

HQ city

Boca Raton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Open Source Project Hosting: OpenNTF provides free open source projects and code libraries to the HCL Domino developer community. The organization operates as a nonprofit community initiative with no revenue-generating activities. Projects are made available under Apache License 2.0 or GPL v3 licenses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

OpenNTF operates as an open source community that hosts, develops, and distributes free software projects, code libraries, and developer tools for the HCL Domino, IBM Notes, XPages, and IBM Connections platforms. Its catalog includes hundreds of projects released under Apache License 2.0 and GPL v3, supported by community webinars, documentation, and a Discord developer community.

Product overview

OpenNTF is an open source community for collaboration solutions that hosts a repository of community-developed projects for IBM/HCL Domino, Notes, and XPages. The platform provides access to tools including NSF File Server (SFTP server for NSFs), NSF ODP Tooling (Maven/Eclipse tooling for on-disk projects), XPages Jakarta EE Support, WebFinger For Domino, and the OpenNTF Snippets code library. The community also hosts regular webinars and maintains GitHub repositories for project source code. OpenNTF is governed by an IP Policy and supports Apache License 2.0 and GPL v3 licensing models.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NSF File Server A Domino HTTP OSGi application that launches an SFTP server backed by one or more NSF databases, storing files and directories as user-side documents for Domino developers and administrators.
• NSF ODP Tooling Maven and Eclipse tooling for compiling On-Disk Projects into NSFs and exporting NSFs to ODP format, including an ODP compiler, ODP exporter, Eclipse plug-ins, NSF deployment service, and XSP transpiler for Domino/XPages developers.
• XPages Jakarta EE Support XPages libraries that enable Jakarta EE development within the Domino/XPages environment, allowing developers to leverage modern Jakarta EE web technologies.
• WebFinger For Domino A minimal WebFinger implementation for HCL Domino that provides Mastodon account information, supports PGP keys, and is extensible via the WebFingerContributor interface.
• Domino Admin AI Tool An AI-powered tool designed to assist administrators in managing HCL Domino environments through artificial intelligence capabilities.
• NSF Maven Repository An NSF-based implementation that functions as a basic Maven repository for Domino developers, enabling artifact storage and retrieval within Domino infrastructure.
• OpenLog An open source library providing common error and event logging across IBM Lotus Notes applications, widely adopted within the Domino developer community.

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• Prominic.NETcoreOthersProminic.NET provides web hosting services for OpenNTF.org, enabling the organization to serve its community of Domino developers and host project downloads.
• Oval Business SolutionsminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerOval Business Solutions designed and developed the OpenNTF website, providing the digital platform for community engagement and project hosting.
• HCL Technologies (HCLTech)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpenNTF serves as the primary open source community for HCL Domino and collaboration solutions. HCL has transitioned products like IBM Connections to open source through OpenNTF, demonstrating a strategic partnership in ecosystem development.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Others

• Open Source Initiative (OSI): Stewards of open-source definitions and licenses (Apache 2.0 used by OpenNTF). Comparable as the standards body that defines the licensing regime OpenNTF operates within.
• Prominic.NET: Hosting partner providing infrastructure for OpenNTF.org and a Domino-focused services provider. Comparable as a strategic ecosystem partner rather than a direct competitive peer.

Direct peers

• Eclipse Foundation: Open-source foundation for tooling, IDE, and runtimes (including Eclipse IDE used in OpenNTF's NSF ODP Tooling). Comparable as a developer-focused open-source foundation that also hosts tooling relevant to enterprise Java/XPages-style ecosystems.
• OWASP Foundation: Non-profit open-source community producing security tools, libraries, and documentation for a specific practitioner audience. Comparable to OpenNTF's nonprofit, community-led structure producing tooling for a niche developer audience.
• Apache Software Foundation: Umbrella foundation hosting open-source projects with formal IP/licensing frameworks (ICLA/CCLA) and a vendor-neutral governance model — directly comparable to OpenNTF's structure of governed open-source projects and contributor agreements.

Broad incumbents

• Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF): Foundation under the Linux Foundation hosting vendor-neutral open-source projects with formal governance. Comparable as a large-scale model for community-led open-source project incubation that OpenNTF emulates at smaller scale.
• HCL Technologies: Vendor owner of Domino/Notes/Connections platforms that OpenNTF's ecosystem depends on. Comparable as the strategic flagship partner shaping OpenNTF's product relevance and roadmap.
• The Linux Foundation: Largest open-source foundation providing vendor-neutral governance, IP frameworks, and ecosystem support — broader in scope than OpenNTF but highly comparable in operating model for community-led open-source stewardship.

Regional players

• SourceForge: Long-standing open-source project hosting and download platform. Historically a parallel project-hosting model to OpenNTF, though its relevance has shifted to niche downloads versus modern Git-centric workflows.

Emerging players

• GitHub (Open Source Programs): Primary hosting platform for OpenNTF's repositories and a broader ecosystem for open-source community management (Sponsors, Discussions, Projects). Comparable as the underlying infrastructure and community-discovery layer OpenNTF depends on.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/openntf
• GitHubgithub.com/openntf
• YouTubeyoutube.com/openntf
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/OpenNTF/159464360754911?ref=ts
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/openntf-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about OpenNTF