EclipseCon is the annual technical conference of the Eclipse Foundation for open source tools. ALM projects being touted include the Compuware-led Corona and ALF (Application Lifecycle Framework), led by Serena Software. ALF addresses the issue of integration and communication between developer tools across the lifecycle; Corona enables Eclipse-based tools to integrate with ALF, according to Eclipse. Also known as the Tools Services Framework, Corona provides frameworks for collaboration among Eclipse clients.

Compuware is announcing creation of Corona. Serena is revealing partner support for ALF from companies such as AccuRev.

Initially, ALF was to take on tasks covered in both ALF and Corona, but Compuware's effort helps Eclipse achieve its ALM goals faster, said Kevin Parker, ALF evangelist at Serena.

"The part of the problem that Corona is solving is something that we were going to tackle in Phase 2, and Compuware volunteered to help us get there more quickly," Parker said.

Explaining the differences in the projects, Parker said ALF is about tools interoperability, whereas Corona provides data persistence between those tools. Compuware and Serena are collaborating in their ALM efforts, Parker said.