Citrix Systems has announced that it is submitting its CloudStack platform to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), a well-respected name in the open source community. The submission will make CloudStack the first cloud platform in the industry to join the ASF. In addition, contributing CloudStack as a project under the ASF will help accelerate Citrix’s mission of delivering a strong, viable, hypervisor-agnostic platform that helps customers build cloud architectures that resemble Amazon Web Services.
Open source is key to success for a cloud platform.
Deciding to contribute CloudStack to the Apache Software Foundation is an important step for Citrix sure to solidify CloudStack’s position as one of the leaders in open cloud computing. At this point in its development, CloudStack is a solid, production-stable and relatively turnkey product and the move to ASF will set the stage for a broader ecosystem to emerge around the CloudStack project, which will insure the success of the project in the long run.
As part of the move, CloudStack 3.0.1 will be relicensed under Apache License v 2.0 and will be added to the “Apache Incubator” program where all Apache projects start. Being under Apache License puts the whole CloudStack project as open source, making it a powerful open source-based alternative to the proprietary products in the cloud infrastructure space. In addition, CloudStack will continue to support Amazon’s APIs, allowing cloud computing customers to enjoy seamless interaction with the world’s largest and most popular public cloud.
The new open source Apache CloudStack project will make it easier for customers of all sizes to deliver cloud services on a platform that is stable, powerful, flexible and completely Amazon-API-compatible.