Apache Announces Two New Top-Level Open-Source Projects

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has announced that two open-source technologies—Apache Gluten and Apache Polaris—officially graduated from the Apache Incubator to become Top-Level Projects (TLPs). The two projects have reached this milestone because their developer communities demonstrate complete project maturity. The transition to Top-Level Project status requires a project to show effective governance and active contributor participation and sustainable operation within the Apache ecosystem.

Apache Gluten Improves Performance for Spark Workloads

Apache Gluten software enables faster data processing by increasing performance capabilities during extensive data handling operations. The software functions as an intermediate plugin which boosts Apache Spark performance for executing SQL and DataFrame tasks.

The project works by shifting demanding processing tasks away from Spark’s Java Virtual Machine (JVM) environment and sending them to faster native execution engines such as Velox or ClickHouse. The approach enables organizations to handle extensive data processing tasks with increased speed while spending less money.

Developers say the project’s architecture enables future Apache technology integrations with other systems through its flexible design.

According to project leaders, achieving Top-Level Project status reflects the growing adoption of Gluten in the data analytics community.

Apache Polaris Expands Interoperability for Data Platforms

The second project, Apache Polaris, serves as an open-source catalog for Apache Iceberg. The system implements the Iceberg REST API to provide data engines with a standardized method for dataset access and management.

Polaris enables data processing systems to work together through its support for Apache Spark Apache Flink Trino and Apache Doris. The technology provides organizations with the ability to control modern data lakehouse systems which use multiple processing tools at once.

Project leaders state that the promotion demonstrates both the technological maturity of Polaris and the strong development community supporting it.

The Role of the Apache Incubator

New initiatives enter the Apache Incubator before reaching official project status to receive mentorship and support during their period of establishing a reliable development team. The Incubator helps projects adopt the “Apache Way,” which focuses on open collaboration and transparent governance and community-driven development.

Apache’s Impact on Open-Source Software

The Apache Software Foundation started its operations in 1999 and has since developed into one of the most important open-source organizations worldwide. Its portfolio includes widely used projects such as Apache Kafka, Apache Cassandra, and Apache HTTP Server.

The promotion of Apache Gluten and Apache Polaris reinforces ASF's mission to support open innovation and create reliable tools for the global technology community.