About
Two competitors built this together and gave it away
- Dewesoft + HBK
- founded as a joint venture
- Apache 2.0
- the SDK permanently
- 2–3
- releases a year
- Trbovlje
- Slovenia
Why it exists
Two competitors and one problem neither could fix alone
Dewesoft and HBK both build measurement hardware and software. They compete. They also both spent years watching customers pay repeatedly for the same work of connecting a device from one company to software from another project by project and adapter by adapter.
That cost is invisible on any invoice but it shapes the market. Customers buy the instrument their software already talks to rather than the one that measures best. Vendors lose deals on integration rather than on merit. Everyone spends engineering time on connection code that gives no one an advantage.
openDAQ exists because a shared foundation is worth more to both companies than a private one. It was founded as a joint venture and incorporated as openDAQ d.o.o. in Trbovlje in Slovenia. The SDK was published under Apache 2.0 from the start so that adopting it is not a bet on either founder's continued goodwill.
Founded by
Scope
Being clear about what this is
What openDAQ is
- An open-source SDK and the common device and signal model behind it
- A compliance programme that verifies what a product actually implements
- A community of companies with products in the ecosystem
- A small organisation funded by its shareholders, membership and services
What openDAQ is not
- A finished measurement application you buy instead of your existing tools
- A hardware vendor. openDAQ sells no instruments and competes with no member
- A turnkey integration house that takes ownership of your product
- A licence you need permission or payment to use
Community principles
Five commitments every member upholds
openDAQ fosters an open and collaborative environment.
The openDAQ SDK is open source under the Apache 2.0 license.
Any contributed intellectual property becomes publicly accessible.
The best solutions emerge from sincere collaboration of minds.
The openDAQ SDK is geared towards the positive advancement of technological progress.
The business model
How it is paid for in plain terms
The SDK being free is not a promotional phase. It is the point. An interoperability standard that costs money to adopt is a product rather than a standard. openDAQ is therefore funded from three places and none of them is a licence fee.
The shareholders
Dewesoft and HBK fund core development. Both ship openDAQ in their own products so the people paying for it are also the people relying on it.
Membership
Advanced, Premium and Diamond members pay a yearly fee for guidance, product testing in the compliance lab, priority maintenance and dedicated engineering. Community membership is free.
Services
Software support and training are charged at the rate of each membership level. Larger work such as a proof of concept or a custom module is quoted per offer. Several services can be bundled into one offer.
Academic users, open-source projects and personal projects use the SDK, the documentation and the community without paying anything and always will.
Participation
How the community works
Membership buys support and testing rather than control. Anyone can use openDAQ, read the source, file an issue or publish a module without asking. Contribution is public by design. One of the five principles below says so explicitly and it is worth reading before you send anything.
- Legal entity
- openDAQ d.o.o.
- Registered in
- Trbovlje, Slovenia
- Founded by
- Dewesoft and HBK
- SDK licence
- Apache 2.0
- Contact
- info@opendaq.com
Next step
Whatever you are building start with a conversation
A device, an application, a mixed-vendor system, a course or a question you are not sure is the right question. One route handles all of it and the first call is free.