Project History

• Benjamin Mestrallet created the eXo Project on in late 2002. He a made it a Free Software with all the code source available on SourceForge. The goal was to implement an innovative Portal platform on top of the incoming Java Server Faces (JSF) web framework and specification
• Quickly he met Tuan Nguyen, a Canadian / Vietnamese developer who was living in Quebec. After several years in the Valley and the bubble burst, Tuan came back to Montreal to develop business portlets. Some were available on SourceForge too. They decided to merge their forces in early 2003 to build together the eXo Platform.
• Less than a year later they released the first JSR 168 certified implementation of the market much before other vendors like IBM or BEA as well as an innovative Portal with the new "Dynamic Template" concept (allows anyone to build page layouts without the help of a developer).
• Dion Almaer and Floyd Marinescu from TheServerSide.com asked them to write some articles on the famous Java middleware information site. Up to now 5 articles have been written...
• The certification and the articles attracted many people and the first large customer was the US department of Defense (Join Force Command) that used the platform in Virginia and in Iraqi.
• The eXo LLC company was created in October 2003 just before the certification. Tuan and Benjamin never met before but have been working online for quite some time.
• In November 2004, eXo joins ObjectWeb an international consortium that promotes Open Source Java Middleware software. It quickly became one of the most downloaded project and opened a wide network of resellers.
• Gennady Azarenkov, contacted Benjamin and Tuan to join the project and provided the first eXo implementation of the Java Content Repository (JSR 170) specification. Gennady is now the Ukrainian Office Manager and an eXo Inc. shareholder.
• In mid 2005, JBoss Inc started to negotiate with eXo LLC to build a new version of JBoss Portal that would be JSR 168 compliant. It never happened.
• Tuan decided to go back to Vietnam and to open an eXo branch there.
• In February 2006, eXo went from a pure Portal player to a larger vendor and introduces an extensive product line that included the eXo Enterprise Content Management product built on top of eXo JCR.
• In March 2006, eXo enters the JCP and sits at the JSR 283 and 286 specification that define the future of JCR and Portlet APIs.
• The company was Incorporated in November 2006 at the same time it opened its US branch.
• In december 2006, at JavaPolis in Belgium, eXo unveils its revolutionary new product line: the eXo Enterprise WebOS.
• Apr 2007 : State of Geneva selects eXo as the ground platform for Portal, ECM and WCM projects
• Oct 2007 : The Belgium Ministry of Finance selects eXo for its new collaborative platform
• At the End 2007 : 55 employees in 3 countries
• April 2008 : Official launch of eXo Portal, eXo WebOS and eXo ECM v2.0 on a private boat in Paris
• June 2008 : Opening of the MEA branch in tunisia
• The company now employs more than 90 people in 4 countries, is profitable and growing very quickly.