The Linux Foundation's latest partnership could shake up open-source ecosystems – here's why

To strengthen the open-source community, the Linux Foundation and the Open Infrastructure Foundation (OpenInfra) have announced plans for OpenInfra to join the Linux Foundation as a member foundation. This decision follows unanimous approval from both organizations’ boards and aims to unite their vibrant global ecosystems to provide trusted open-source solutions.

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The Linux Foundation was formed when the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) merged with the Free Standards Group in 2007. Back then, its focus was to standardize desktop and enterprise Linux. Today, it oversees more than 900 open-source projects.

In OpenInfra’s case, it started as the OpenStack Foundation in 2012. Its mission was to oversee the OpenStack infrastructure-as-a-service open-source cloud. In 2020, the foundation changed its name to OpenInfra and expanded beyond OpenStack to include: Airship, lifecycle management for clouds; Kata Containers, lightweight virtual machines; and StarlingX, a cloud-based edge-computing platform.

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The two foundations already collaborate closely through the Open Infrastructure Blueprint, which integrates key projects, including Linux, OpenStack, and Kubernetes. This partnership supports critical workloads for hundreds of organizations worldwide, creating opportunities for these technologies to grow together and outpace proprietary tools in evolving infrastructure environments.

By joining forces, the organizations will accelerate data center modernization through collaboration with projects such as Kubernetes and PyTorch. In other words, this merger is a natural move.

Developers from both sides can leverage the combined strength of both organizations to foster a more integrated and collaborative open-source ecosystem. The partnership aims to maintain OpenInfra’s community-centric approach while benefiting from the Linux Foundation’s established governance structures. This approach ensures developers continue to work within a framework that supports open-source principles and community engagement.

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The data center infrastructure market, a particular concern of OpenInfra, is undergoing significant changes driven by AI demands, virtualization, and digital sovereignty. Jonathan Bryce, OpenInfra’s executive director, highlighted the perfect timing for combining resources to drive the $9 trillion open-source market: “Together with the Linux Foundation, we can work more closely to develop, deploy, and shape a future where open source continues to win.”

Jim Zemlin, the Linux Foundation’s executive director, said: “We are thrilled to welcome the OpenInfra Foundation to the Linux Foundation. Our 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.”

Before completing the merger, OpenInfra will operate within the Linux Foundation while maintaining its current governance and community approach. Further details will be discussed at the Linux Foundation’s Member Summit in Napa, California, next week.

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OpenInfra enters the partnership with increased momentum. Its membership, according to Julia Kreger, chair of the OpenInfra board, has “increased by 15%, including two new Platinum members. Our projects are thriving as well, with OpenStack adoption surging and OpenInfra projects like Kata Containers, StarlingX, and Zuul experiencing increased adoption.” In short, both organizations are coming together from positions of strength.

Looking ahead, OpenInfra’s COO, Mark Collier, said: “Throughout history, every leap in human progress has been driven by advances in infrastructure, and today’s rapid evolution of AI is no exception. The greatest AI innovations will thrive within open ecosystems, not proprietary silos. By joining forces, OpenInfra and the Linux Foundation amplify a collaborative community already deeply interconnected, ensuring AI infrastructure is openly developed, community-governed, and accessible — empowering innovators worldwide to freely contribute, adapt, and build upon shared technologies.”