Back in 2010, Rackspace and NASA launched a project called OpenStack, aiming to be an open source option for running AWS-style cloud computing in private data centers. The two companies subsequently handed OpenStack over to the OpenStack Foundation, which has steadfastly pushed the project through many ups and downs. Now, with Broadcom's controversial licensing changes to VMware products, OpenStack is back on the rise as enterprises look for alternatives.
Today, the Open Infrastructure Foundation announced its plans to become part of the Linux Foundation - the giant open source nonprofit that is also home to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), PyTorch, OpenSearch, RISC-V, Linux and dozens of others.
At this point, the three largest and most active open source projects in the world (Linux, Kubernetes and OpenStack) are all under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation. It is worth noting that in addition to OpenStack, the OpenInfra Foundation hosts many other projects. These projects include the KataContainers project for building more secure software containers, software lifecycle management tool Airship, CI/CD platform Zuul and edge computing platform StarlingX.
Over the years, the relationship between the OpenInfra/OpenStack Foundation, especially the Linux Foundation's CNCF, has had its ups and downs. This is partly due to the meteoric rise of Kubernetes, which has fueled CNCF's success as a foundation and caused OpenStack to be viewed as a legacy technology.
But now, through the Open Infrastructure Blueprint, the two organizations are working more closely together.
"The data center infrastructure market is undergoing a fundamental reshaping, driven by artificial intelligence and the huge demand for virtualization migration and digital sovereignty," said Jonathan Bryce, long-term executive director of the OpenInfra Foundation. "The OpenInfra Foundation is already working closely with many of the Linux Foundation's projects supporting this reinvention, and now is an excellent time to pool resources and build on our organization's work to advance this trillion-dollar market. Together with the Linux Foundation, we can work even more closely to develop, deploy, and shape a future where open source continues to win."
Meanwhile, Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, noted that the two organizations' "rich history of collaboration and close-knit communities will drive our shared mission to advocate and advance the power and promise of open source."
The idea here is that once this process is completed, the OpenInfra Foundation will operate within the Linux Foundation, just like other open source foundations under the same umbrella. What this means for OpenInfra Foundation staffing remains to be seen.
Julia Kreger, Chair of the OpenInfra Board of Directors, said: "The OpenInfra Foundation enters 2025 with strong momentum: a 15% increase in the number of member organizations, including two new Platinum members. Our projects are also thriving, and OpenStack adoption is surging. , OpenInfra projects like KataContainers, StarlingX, and Zuul are also seeing increased adoption. Our global community of 110,000 people, combined with the Linux Foundation, leverages the power of open source and sets us up for continued success as we build the next decade of infrastructure."