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The Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) and AllSeen Alliance have joined forces to “advance interoperability between connected devices from both groups, enabling the full operating potential of IoT and representing a significant step towards a connected ecosystem.”

The idea is to get devices and appliances using either technology to work together.

Operating under the OCF banner, the newly merged groups say they will collaborate to support future versions of the OCF specification in a single IoTivity implementation that combines the best of both technologies into a unified solution. Current devices running on either AllJoyn or IoTivity solutions will be interoperable and backward-compatible.

“Companies already developing IoT solutions based on either technology can proceed with the confidence that their products will be compatible with the unified IoT standard that the industry has been asking for,” OFC said in the press release announcing the merger.

The new OCF will now also sponsor both the IoTivity and AllJoyn open source projects at The Linux Foundation.

The expanded OCF board of directors will comprise executives from a range of major companies, including AB Electrolux, Canon, Cisco, GE Digital, Haier, Intel, LG, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Technicolor SA.

Among those absent from the list are a few other majors: Google, Apple, and Amazon.

“By coming together as one group, we are able to make IoT a more seamless, secure experience for everyone involved, from developers to end users,” said Danny Lousberg, chairperson of the AllSeen Alliance. “The AllSeen Alliance and Open Connectivity Foundation have been working together closely to deliver a technologically comprehensive solution that makes sense for the industry and our members.”

“We’re incredibly excited about this unification as both groups have been working diligently to make this possible,” said Mike Richmond, executive director, Open Connectivity Foundation. “As we forge onwards towards this shared goal, we are focused on building the most robust, open IoT software solution to achieve our vision—complete interoperability within the IoT.”

For more information, please visit openconnectivity.org.