In an ideal world, there would be no need for this...
Every open source Java project would build OSGi bundles instead of plain old JARs and push them to The Central Repository (aka Maven Central).
But the harsh reality is, Maven-based OSGi projects often require third-party libs that are not available as OSGi bundles or not on Maven central.
Pax Tipi provides a no-fuss platform for osgifying third-party Open Source libraries and releasing them to Central.
Thus, Pax Tipi can be compared to Apache Servicemix Bundles Repository or SpringSource Enterprise Bundle Repository, but the big difference is the OPS4J low-to-no barrier philosophy: if you want to get a job done, just do it and share it.