After more than a decade as an independent open-source foundation, the OpenStack project is joining the Linux Foundation in a move aimed at accelerating collaboration across the open infrastructure ecosystem.
Fifteen years ago, Rackspace got together with NASA and created the open-source OpenStack project. Over the next two years, as OpenStack’s technology and user base grew, there were many discussions among participants about moving the technology to an open-source foundation. One of the leading options was to join the Linux Foundation, but that didn’t happen. Instead, in 2012, the OpenStack Foundation was created, which changed its name to the Open Infrastructure (OpenInfra) Foundation in 2020.
Now, OpenStack and the OpenInfra Foundation are moving to the Linux Foundation.
The Linux Foundation has emerged over the last 20 years to be the preeminent open-source organization for commercially viable technologies. It’s the home to Linux, as well as a growing list of other critical projects and foundations, including the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), which is the home of Kubernetes; PyTorch Foundation, which is a leading AI training technology; and LF Networking, which hosts a vast array of open-source networking projects. In many respects, the Linux Foundation positions itself in 2025 as a foundation of foundations, providing the tools, resources, legal, governance and event support that open-source groups need.
“Back in 2012 we did consider putting OpenStack in the Linux Foundation. At that time, the Linux Foundation was not a place that was hosting a ton of projects. You know, it was still basically the home of Linux,” Jonathan Bryce, executive director of the OpenInfra Foundation, told Network World. “We were at that time growing so quickly, and our community had a lot of really specific governance goals and structures that they wanted to build and maintain, and that was, you know, what led us to stand up our own independent thing.”
Why OpenStack is moving to the Linux Foundation now
The decision to bring OpenStack under the Linux Foundation umbrella was driven by the evolving needs of the project and its community.
“Open source has changed a lot, and what a project needs out of a foundation in 2025 is quite different from what a project needed in 2010 or 2012 when we were starting the OpenStack foundation,” Bryce said. “Governments are very interested in open source, and we have to make sure that we are participating in the right way to understand and comply with policies.”
The Linux Foundation has had multiple efforts in recent years to engage with governments around the world on multiple topics, including open-source security, via its OpenSSF (Open Secure Software Foundation). Bryce noted that in his view, the Linux Foundation has wisely invested in legal and regulatory and advocacy capabilities that will benefit OpenStack.
Being part of the Linux Foundation will also bring operational efficiencies to Open Stack for event management as well.
Mark Collier, chief operating officer at the OpenInfra Foundation, noted that the community had already been doing joint events as OpenStack is commonly deployed alongside CNCF technologies.
Bracing for the AI wave
A key factor behind the move is the rise of artificial intelligence and the massive infrastructure investments required to support it.
“There’s going to be a trillion dollars in infrastructure built out just for accelerated compute, and it’s a huge opportunity for OpenStack,” Bryce said. “Everybody is going to need infrastructure software to power all that.”
Collier added that OpenStack is already widely used for AI training as well as inference workloads, and he expects that to grow. As such, he noted that the Linux Foundation’s experience in hosting large-scale open-source projects like Kubernetes and its growing focus on AI infrastructure made it an attractive partner for OpenStack.
Maintaining community governance
A key priority for the OpenStack community was ensuring that its hard-won governance model and community engagement would be preserved under the Linux Foundation.
The new structure will see OpenStack become a foundation within the Linux Foundation, with its own budget, governance and member fees. The shift for many will be easy, as almost all of the OpenInfra Foundation members are already members of the Linux Foundation in one capacity or another.
“From the perspective of our corporate members and also from the perspective of our contributors, we expect very little to change,” Bryce said.
The move also presents an opportunity to further dispel the perception of competition between OpenStack and Kubernetes, which Collier described as “nonsense.” Kubernetes is a container orchestration system that still requires some form of infrastructure to run on. OpenStack can be that infrastructure and frequently is a deployment target of choice for many operators around the world.
“Those of us who pay close enough attention understand that OpenStack and Kubernetes were never competitors, and neither were the two foundations behind them,” Collier said.
“Hopefully, there’ll be some additional ability to demonstrate that it was always kind of nonsense. If we’re under one roof, that’ll make it even more clear.”