Apache Openjpa is a Java persistence framework that manages relational database access to Java objects. It provides transparent persistence of Java objects with transaction support, query capabilities, and enhanced performance compared to traditional ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) frameworks. Openjpa is an open-source project managed by the Apache Software Foundation and can be used with various Java application servers and databases. To work with Openjpa, developers require specialized skills in Java programming, database management, and ORM frameworks.