OpenStack comes to the Linux Foundation

Back in 2010, Rackspace and NASA launched a project called OpenStack, which was meant to become an open source option for running an AWS-style cloud inside of private data centers. The two companies then moved OpenStack to the OpenStack Foundation, which has steadfastly shepherded the project through its many ups and downs. Right now, with the controversy around Broadcom’s licensing changes to VMware’s offerings, OpenStack is back on an upswing, as enterprises look for an alternative.

Today, the Open Infrastructure Foundation (which is what the OpenStack Foundation renamed itself to in 2021 after the OpenStack project had lost some of its steam), announced that it plans to become a 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 other foundations.

With this, three of the world’s largest and most active open source projects (Linux, Kubernetes, and OpenStack), now fall under the Linux Foundation umbrella. It’s worth noting that the OpenInfra Foundation also hosts a number of other projects besides OpenStack. These include the likes of the Kata Containers project for building more secure software containers, the software lifecycle management tool Airship, the CI/CD platform Zuul, and the edge computing platform StarlingX.

Over the years, the relationship between the OpenInfra/OpenStack Foundation and especially the Linux Foundation’s CNCF also had its ups and downs. In part that was driven by the rapid rise of the popularity of Kubernetes, which propelled the CNCF’s success as a foundation and led OpenStack to be seen as legacy technology.

Today, though, the two organizations work more closely together already through the Open Infrastructure Blueprint.

“The data center infrastructure market is undergoing a fundamental reinvention, driven by the colossal demands of AI as well as virtualization migration and digital sovereignty,” said Jonathan Bryce, the longtime executive director of the OpenInfra Foundation. “The OpenInfra Foundation is already closely aligned with many of the projects housed at the Linux Foundation that are supporting this reinvention, and the timing is perfect to combine resources and build upon our organizations’ work in driving this trillion-dollar market. Together with the Linux Foundation, we can work more closely and collaborate to develop, deploy, and shape a future where open source continues to win.”

Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin, meanwhile, notes that the two organizations’ “rich history of partnership and closely linked communities will propel us in our shared mission to advocate for and advance the power and promise of open source.”

The idea here is that once this process is complete, the OpenInfra Foundation will operate inside of the Linux Foundation, just like any other open source foundation under the same umbrella. What this means for the OpenInfra Foundation’s staffing remains to be seen.

“The OpenInfra Foundation enters 2025 with strong momentum: the number of member organizations increased by 15%, including two new Platinum members,” said Julia Kreger, chair of the OpenInfra board of directors. “Our projects are thriving as well, with OpenStack adoption surging and OpenInfra projects like Kata Containers, StarlingX, and Zuul experiencing increased adoption. Coupling our global community — 110,000-strong — with the Linux Foundation leverages the power of open source and sets the stage for continued success as we build the next decade of infrastructure.”

This marks my last post for TechCrunch. So long, and thanks for all the fish.