The Object Data Management Group (ODMG) was conceived in the summer of 1991 at a breakfast with object database vendors that was organized by Rick Cattell of Sun Microsystems.
The primary goal of the ODMG was to put forward a set of specifications that allowed a developer to write portable applications for object database and object–relational mapping products.
[1] By 2001, most of the major object database and object-relational mapping vendors claimed conformance to the ODMG Java Language Binding.
The ODMG member companies then decided to concentrate their efforts on the Java Data Objects specification.
In February 2006, the OMG announced the formation of the Object Database Technology Working Group (ODBT WG) and plans to work on the 4th generation of an object database standard.