Joint Development Foundation

What Joint Development Foundation does

Joint Development Foundation (JDF) is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) standards development organization and legal-infrastructure provider, founded in 2015 by David Rudin (Assistant General Counsel at Microsoft) to eliminate the multi-year legal negotiations typically required to spin up multi-party technology consortia. It operates as a subsidiary of the Linux Foundation (since December 2018) and delivers a "consortium-in-a-box" offering — pre-negotiated template agreements, flexible intellectual-property policies, a 501(c)(6) corporate wrapper, and an ISO/IEC JTC 1 PAS Submitting Organization channel — enabling organizations to launch standards collaborations in days rather than months. Its hosted portfolio spans 36 active projects across more than ten verticals (technology, identity and security, telecommunications, finance, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, transportation, and media), including Alliance for Open Media (AV1), 3MF (an ISO/IEC standard), GraphQL, Decentralized Identity Foundation, Trust over IP, C2PA, Ultra Ethernet Consortium, Alliance for OpenUSD, App Defense Alliance, Unified Acceleration Foundation, Overture Maps Foundation, Margo, Tazama, and OpenSTX. The ecosystem comprises 500+ member organizations and 3,500+ participants, with major tech and industrial firms (Microsoft, Google, Meta, AWS, NVIDIA, Intel, Apple, Cisco, Broadcom, AMD, Adobe, Pixar, Rockwell, Siemens, Schneider Electric, ABB) anchoring different projects.

Commercially, JDF itself provides its formation services at no cost and does not publicly disclose revenue; its economic engine is the Linux Foundation-funded shared infrastructure that supports optional fee-based services (accounting, events, marketing, PR, legal, research) consumed by individual projects, with each project setting its own membership dues. Distribution is community-led: prospective consortia initiate contact via email, JDF evaluates fit and assembles the legal entity, and projects then operate semi-independently under their own steering committees. JDF's competitive advantage is a structural one — it is the only organization combining open-source-style collaborative governance with a direct pathway to international ISO/IEC standardization, having achieved six published international standards to date.

Name

Joint Development Foundation

Legal name

Joint Development Foundation Projects, LLC

Website

https://jointdevelopment.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Joint Development Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) subsidiary of the Linux Foundation that provides pre-negotiated legal and governance infrastructure for open-standards and open-source consortia. It hosts 36 projects across 10+ verticals with 500+ member organizations and 3,500+ participants, and holds ISO/IEC JTC 1 PAS Submitting Organization status enabling direct international-standard publication.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Standards Development Organization Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Standards Development & Publishing (SDOs, Technical Standards) (MPAJACAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

International Standards Development & Standardization Bodies (BPADANAA), Technical Committees, Working Groups & Expert Panels (BPADANAB)

Keywords

• Open standards development
• Consortium governance services
• Open source collaboration
• Standards development organization
• Legal framework hosting

Headquarters

HQ city

Tumwater

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Project Membership Fees: Each JDF Project sets its own membership dues structure. Projects decide whether to charge fees and how much. JDF provides templates for membership agreements that projects can customize. This is the primary revenue mechanism for projects, not directly for JDF.
2. Optional Support Services: Projects can access optional fee-based support capabilities including accounting, management, marketing, PR, events, education, certification, IT, legal, research, and other services. These are provided through the Linux Foundation infrastructure.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Joint Development Foundation provides rapid-start, out-of-the-box materials and a 501(c)(6) nonprofit corporate wrapper for organizations to form custom-branded open standards and open source consortia. Its core deliverable is pre-negotiated, battle-tested template legal agreements, flexible intellectual property policies, and optional support services that allow multi-party technical collaborations to launch without the years-long legal negotiation typical of consortium formation. JDF also provides a direct pathway from hosted specification work to international standards through its ISO/IEC JTC 1 PAS Submitting Organization status.

Product overview

The Joint Development Foundation (JDF) is a standards development organization that provides a governance framework and legal entity hosting service, not a traditional product company. It offers rapid-start, out-of-the-box materials to create custom-branded non-profit technology consortia, including pre-negotiated template agreements, intellectual property policies, and corporate infrastructure. JDF hosts 39 standards and open source collaboration projects across multiple sectors including technology, identity/security, telecommunications, finance, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, transportation, and media. Key hosted projects include Alliance for Open Media (video codecs), 3MF (3D printing format, ISO/IEC standard), GraphQL (API query language), Decentralized Identity Foundation, Uptane (vehicle software security), C2PA (content provenance), Ultra Ethernet Consortium, Unified Acceleration Foundation (cross-platform acceleration), Alliance for OpenUSD, App Defense Alliance, Margo (edge interoperability), and Overture Maps Foundation. JDF became an ISO/IEC JTC1 PAS Submitting Organization in 2018 and has achieved six ISO/IEC international standard publications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Joint Development Foundation Projects Framework
• 3MF

Quantifiable outcome

• 6 ISO/IEC JTC 1 international standards published, including 3MF File Format Specification Suite
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

26 partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• ABB (including B&R)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2024ABB joined as a founding member of Margo, an open standard initiative for edge interoperability in industrial automation. ABB brings expertise in automation systems and digital transformation to enable interoperability across multi-vendor environments.
• Rockwell AutomationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2024Rockwell Automation serves as Chair of the Margo Initiative. As founding member, they contribute over 100 years of industrial automation experience to developing open edge interoperability standards for industrial ecosystems.
• Schneider Electric (including AVEVA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2024Schneider Electric joined Margo as a founding member, bringing expertise in energy management and industrial automation. The initiative aligns with their vision for an interoperable and sustainable automation ecosystem.
• SiemenscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2024Siemens joined Margo as a founding member, contributing commitment to ecosystem openness through Industrial Operations X and Siemens Industrial Edge. Margo supports extending cross-vendor approaches.
• MicrosoftcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2024Microsoft is a founding member of Margo, aligning Azure Arc and Azure IoT Operations with the initiative to help industrial customers reduce complexity, cost, and time to value for edge solutions.
• CapgeminicoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2024Capgemini joined Margo as a founding member, bringing expertise in digital engineering to help create the new open standard for industrial automation edge interoperability.
• GooglecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 November 2023Google partnered with Microsoft and Meta as founding steering committee members for the App Defense Alliance under JDF. The alliance improves app security through industry standards for malware mitigation and app security assessments. Google originally launched the alliance in 2019 and continues partnership under JDF's vendor-neutral structure.
• MicrosoftcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 November 2023Microsoft partnered with Google and Meta as founding steering committee members for the App Defense Alliance under JDF. The alliance drives open collaboration and innovation in app security standards across ecosystems.
• MetacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 November 2023Meta partnered with Google and Microsoft as founding steering committee members for the App Defense Alliance under JDF. The alliance strengthens trust and confidence in app safety through open standards that protect users across ecosystems.
• ArmcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 September 2023Arm joined as a participating organization in the Unified Acceleration Foundation, an evolution of the oneAPI initiative. The foundation delivers an open standard accelerator programming model for cross-platform performance across CPU, GPU, FPGA, and other accelerators.
• IntelcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 September 2023Intel is a key participating organization in the Unified Acceleration Foundation. The foundation builds on Intel's oneAPI initiative to create an open, unified programming model for heterogeneous computing architectures.
• Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 September 2023Qualcomm joined the Unified Acceleration Foundation to help build an open source programming model across architectures and vendors, addressing industry needs for flexible open source alternatives enabling diverse hardware requirements.
• Linux FoundationflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 August 2023JDF is a subsidiary of the Linux Foundation, which provides services, staffing, and infrastructure support. JDF became part of the Linux Foundation family in December 2018 to enable greater capabilities for open source and standards development.
• PixarcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023Pixar co-founded the Alliance for OpenUSD with Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and NVIDIA to promote standardization, development, and evolution of OpenUSD technology for 3D content description and interchange.
• AdobecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023Adobe joined the Alliance for OpenUSD to support OpenUSD as a common 3D data representation that multiplies value across creative tools and devices.
• ApplecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023Apple joined the Alliance for OpenUSD as an active contributor to OpenUSD development. OpenUSD is essential technology for visionOS platform and Reality Composer Pro developer tools.
• AutodeskcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023Autodesk joined the Alliance for OpenUSD to drive 3D interoperability for visual effects, animation, and digital content creation across industry tools.
• NVIDIAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2023NVIDIA co-founded the Alliance for OpenUSD to accelerate OpenUSD collaboration globally by building formal standards across industries for digital content and industrial digitalization.
• AMDcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 July 2023AMD is a founding member of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium, working to deliver an open, interoperable, high-performance Ethernet communication stack architecture for AI and HPC workloads.
• AristacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 July 2023Arista joined the Ultra Ethernet Consortium as a founding member to build a complete Ethernet-based communication stack architecture tailored for AI and HPC at scale.
• BroadcomcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 July 2023Broadcom is a founding member of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium, contributing decades of networking expertise to optimize Ethernet for demanding AI and HPC workloads.
• CiscocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 July 2023Cisco joined the Ultra Ethernet Consortium as a founding member to help build an open, interoperable Ethernet stack for AI and HPC environments.
• HPEcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 July 2023HPE is a founding member of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium, contributing high-performance computing expertise to the open Ethernet standard initiative.
• MetacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 July 2023Meta joined the Ultra Ethernet Consortium as a founding member to develop open Ethernet standards for AI and HPC workloads at scale.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 December 2022AWS co-founded the Overture Maps Foundation with Meta, Microsoft, and TomTom to develop interoperable open map data as a shared asset for mapping services worldwide.
• TomTomcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 December 2022TomTom co-founded the Overture Maps Foundation with AWS, Meta, and Microsoft to create reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF): A Linux Foundation sub-foundation hosting cloud-native open source projects with vendor-neutral governance, corporate membership, and standards-related working groups. Comparable to JDF in providing legal and operational infrastructure for technology consortia.
• OASIS Open: A nonprofit standards organization that develops open standards through member-driven technical committees with pre-negotiated IP policies. Directly comparable to JDF as a competing SDO offering legal infrastructure for industry consortia to develop formal specifications.
• Eclipse Foundation: A nonprofit foundation hosting open source projects and working groups with corporate membership and standardized legal/IP frameworks. Comparable to JDF in operating a project-hosting model with multiple industry working groups and standards-oriented activities.
• Apache Software Foundation: A 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation that hosts open source software projects under a vendor-neutral governance structure with pre-negotiated IP policies. Directly comparable to JDF in providing legal infrastructure and governance for collaborative technology projects, though focused on code rather than specifications.
• OpenJS Foundation: A Linux Foundation sub-project that hosts JavaScript ecosystem projects with vendor-neutral governance and corporate membership. Directly comparable to JDF as a sibling project-hosting entity under the LF umbrella with similar member-funded structure.
• Object Management Group (OMG): A nonprofit standards consortium developing vendor-neutral specifications across industries with member-funded governance. Comparable to JDF as an SDO providing consortium infrastructure for collaborative technical specification development.

Broad incumbents

• Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF): An open standards organization developing internet protocols and architectures through volunteer working groups. Comparable to JDF as an established SDO producing technical specifications with global industry participation.
• IEEE Standards Association: A major international standards body producing consensus-based standards across technology industries through corporate and individual membership. Comparable to JDF as a competing pathway for organizations seeking to develop and publish internationally recognized technical standards.
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): An international standards organization for the World Wide Web, developing open web standards through member-driven working groups. Comparable to JDF in function (SDO producing technical specifications) but with a much broader scope and longer history.
• Linux Foundation: The parent organization of JDF and a major umbrella foundation hosting hundreds of open source projects across the technology stack. Comparable as the broader incumbent ecosystem within which JDF operates, providing shared services, events, and infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/JointDevelop
• GitHubgithub.com/Joint-Development-Foundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/joint-development-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Joint Development Foundation