This proposal advocates for the strategic integration of the Eclipse Xpanse project with the Oniro platform. Xpanse is an open-source framework for defining and deploying cloud managed services in a portable, vendor-neutral way. This integration directly supports the Oniro Working Group's mission to foster a "vendor-neutral environment" and "drive the commercial success" of the platform by adding a powerful cloud-agnostic backend capability.
2. Business and Technical Rationale
Integrating Xpanse addresses key industry challenges and opens new opportunities for the Oniro ecosystem:
Advancing Digital Sovereignty and Avoiding Lock-in: A core principle of Xpanse is enabling "services and data interoperability within cloud providers and service portability across multiple cloud vendors". This aligns perfectly with growing global demands for digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy, allowing European and global developers and industries to build solutions free from dependency on a single cloud provider.
Enabling a "Managed Services as Code" Backend for Oniro and OpenHarmony-based Apps: Oniro based on OpenHarmony core is designed for a wide range of devices from consumer electronics to Industrial IoT. Xpanse can serve as the standardized backend, allowing developers to define necessary services (databases, message brokers, AI endpoints) using a simple JSON manifest (OCL). These public cloud services infrastructure can then be deployed portably on Huawei Cloud, Openstack, FlexibleEngine, Sovereign Cloud Stack (SCS), or any other third party private cloud infrastructure plugins, including CDNs (Content Deliver Networks) integration for platform streaming services.
Creating a Foundation for Future Services (Generative UI, AI): The integration lays the groundwork for advanced development paradigms. A proposed future native "Generative UI" and AI-assisted development tool could automatically compose applications by selecting Oniro's OpenHarmony inherited Atomic UI components and provisioning their corresponding backend services via Xpanse OCL files. This vision aligns with industry movements toward AI-enabled developer tooling and agentic workflows.
3. Proposed Integration Pathways and Value
The integration can be pursued through several focused pathways, each delivering distinct value.
Integration Pathway Technical Approach Value to the Oniro Ecosystem
Xpanse as the Default Cloud Backend Extend Oniro's development tools (e.g., Eclipse Theia IDE and Oniro IDE VS Code extension) to allow generating and managing Xpanse OCL manifests for app backends. Provides developers a turnkey, portable cloud solution, accelerating time-to-market and reducing complexity.
OMH Plugin Services via Xpanse Define standardized OCL manifests for services commonly accessed via Open Mobile Hub (OMH) plugins (e.g., auth, maps, storage). Gives developers full control over their service stack, enhancing compliance (e.g., GDPR) and enabling service provider choice.
"Atomic" Service Catalog for Oniro Create and maintain a curated catalog of verified Xpanse OCL service definitions optimized for common Oniro use cases (Smart Home, Industrial IoT). Drives ecosystem consistency, reduces reinvention, and establishes Oniro as a leader in portable, sovereign cloud development. Alongside familiar with Google's Firebase Analytics for Android developers migration with cross platform capacitor-firebase framework plugins for OpenHarmony-Oniro based platforms as a standalone middleware stack integrated with Linux Foundation Europe's Open Mobile Hub framework connected to Eclipse Xpanse backend cloud.
4. Governance and Next Steps
We recommend the following actions to formalize this collaboration within the Oniro Working Group's governance structure:
Form a Special Interest Group (SIG): Establish a dedicated SIG under the Oniro Working Group focused on "Cloud and Backend Services." This SIG would be the forum for joint architecture design and project planning between Oniro and Xpanse contributors.
Steering Committee Review and Roadmap Inclusion: Present this proposal to the Oniro Steering Committee to secure endorsement and include the integration in the official platform roadmap.
Specification Committee Collaboration: Task the Specification Committee with defining the technical specifications for how Oniro applications declare and consume Xpanse-managed services, ensuring a standardized approach.
Pilot Project Execution: Identify a candidate Oniro vertical solution (e.g., building on Eclipse Oniro OH for IoT devices) to serve as a pilot for integrating a Xpanse-provisioned backend, demonstrating tangible benefits.
The Eclipse Xpanse project team is prepared to engage actively with the Oniro Working Group to make this integrated vision a reality. We believe this collaboration will significantly strengthen the value proposition of the Oniro platform for the European market and beyond.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss this proposal at the next available Steering Committee meeting alongside the previous proposals I have proposed on.
Sincerely,
Best regards,
Benjamin Akhigbe
Learning Oniro/HarmonyOS UK/Global Developer
benjaminakhigbe@xxxxxxxxx
On behalf of the Eclipse Xpanse Project
