The Association of Open Group Enterprise Architects (AOGEA), an affiliate of The Open group, has merged with the Global Enterprise Architecture Organization (GEAO), the two groups announced this week.

The merged organization now has more than 9,000 members in 72 countries and will focus on advancing enterprise architecture, such as , by helping to develop standards of "excellence and ethics" for members, according to a statement from the groups.

[ Earlier this month, . ]

"From my point of view, there are a lot of complementary strengths in both organizations," said Allan Brown, president and CEO of The Open Group.

While GEAO has more business people involved who use IT, AOGEA members tend to be enterprise architects who are more IT-focused. The Open Group has sponsored TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework), which has been used by more than 60 percent of Fortune 50 and 80 percent of global Forbes 50 companies, according to The Open Group.