Consortium, Chinese research center team up to promote adoption of open-source middleware by Chinese companies and government The ObjectWeb Consortium has teamed up with China’s Guangzhou Middleware Research Center (GMRC) to help push for wider adoption of open-source middleware software by Chinese companies and government bodies.Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) announced earlier this week, GMRC will represent the group’s interests in China. The MOU was signed by GMRC and France’s National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA), an ObjectWeb co-founder that represented the group’s legal interests, according to a statement.ObjectWeb was established in 2002 by INRIA, Groupe Bull and France Télécom and now has more than 50 corporate and academic members. The group is involved with several dozen open-source middleware development projects, including Java Open Application Server (JOnAS), which is used by Red Hat in its own application server. GMRC, which is based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, joined ObjectWeb in December 2004, the statement said.As the leader of the ObjectWeb effort in China, GMRC will expand the group’s presence in China by recruiting new corporate members and promoting the adoption of ObjectWeb’s open-source software in the country. The center will also work to insure that Chinese contributions are included in software code developed by ObjectWeb.To help achieve these goals, GMRC has dedicated a team of 20 researchers and engineers to work on ObjectWeb projects, including current and future versions of JOnAS, the statement said. Software DevelopmentTechnology IndustrySmall and Medium Business