Formation of the CHERI Alliance
The CHERI Alliance formed to coordinate the organisations needed to move CHERI from shared technology into a global, interoperable product ecosystem.
Once several processor suppliers, operating-system communities, tool developers, universities, government bodies, and adopters work on the same architecture, coordination becomes part of the technical problem. Without shared terminology, portable software expectations, certification criteria, and visible product routes, each adopter must resolve the same uncertainty alone.
The CHERI Alliance formed to provide that ecosystem-level coordination.
Why an alliance was needed
By the early 2020s, CHERI had expanded well beyond its original institutional collaboration. Morello enabled broad application-class evaluation. CHERI-RISC-V supported multiple cores and software environments. CHERIoT connected an embedded instruction-set architecture (ISA), real-time operating system (RTOS), FPGA platforms, and commercial development. Companies were building processor designs, chips, tools, and services.
This created common needs:
- align technical work across architectures and suppliers
- make software and tooling easier to find and maintain
- explain CHERI accurately to developers, buyers, and policymakers
- provide routes for contribution and shared engineering
- develop credible product certification
- support events, training, and community growth
- represent the ecosystem without being tied to one vendor
No single company or university could perform that neutral role for the whole market.
Establishment and launch
The CHERI Alliance was established in Cambridge, UK, as a Community Interest Company. This structure supports its non-profit, community-focused purpose.
The Alliance officially launched on 12 November 2024 and announced an expanded group of founding members from industry, open-source organisations, universities, and the public sector. The launch marked a change in scale, not the beginning of CHERI itself. It built on more than a decade of architecture and ecosystem development.
Organising collaborative work
The Alliance uses working groups to coordinate concrete activities. Technical groups address areas such as C and C++ portability, Linux, Zephyr, FreeRTOS, QEMU, virtual machines, safety, system-on-chip integration, and systems without a memory-management unit. Other groups support certification, repository management, promotion, ambassadors, and marketing.
Working groups do not replace the main software projects or companies that build products. They provide a place to agree priorities, share effort, identify gaps, and improve portability across organisational boundaries.
Creating the CHERI Enabled programme
As commercial claims increased, the ecosystem needed a defined way to assess whether a product implemented CHERI as claimed. The Alliance’s certification work produced the CHERI Enabled programme, including a documented application, evidence review, interviews, published certification answers, and periodic reassessment.
The first products were certified in 2026. This established a public evidence route while keeping the claim carefully scoped: CHERI Enabled status applies to a particular product and version, not to the complete security of every system that uses it.
A role alongside other organisations
The Alliance is one part of the ecosystem. Universities continue architecture and systems work. Open-source communities build software. Suppliers develop processors and products. Engineering organisations help prepare components for mainline contribution and long-term maintenance. Standards bodies provide their own governance for specifications.
The Alliance connects these groups by coordinating shared priorities, providing a public voice, and giving members a neutral forum for collaboration.
For the current organisation rather than its history, see About the CHERI Alliance and Working Groups.