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VANCOUVER, B.C.—At the OpenStack Summit here, one of the big directions revealed for the future of the open-source cloud platform is the “Big Tent” approach that encompasses many more projects.
The move to a Big Tent will have a significant impact on vendors in the OpenStack ecosystem, including Red Hat. Helping to lead Red Hat’s OpenStack efforts is Mark McLoughlin, OpenStack technical director at Red Hat. McLoughlin was the first OpenStack developer at Red Hat and was identified as the leading code committer to the project in 2013. McLoughlin currently serves on the OpenStack Foundation’s board of directors.
In a video interview with eWEEK, McLoughlin discusses how the changes in OpenStack governance and project inclusion will have an impact.
McLoughlin said that one of the things he was concerned about at the start of the OpenStack Foundation is that it not become a “pay for play” effort. He noted that companies like Red Hat pay half a million dollars a year to be a platinum member and get a seat on the board.
“The OpenStack Foundation has a mission to protect, empower and grow the project,” McLoughlin said. “On the board I’ve been trying to make sure the foundation stays true to the mission.”
From the Big Tent perspective, McLoughlin sees it as a way that OpenStack distribution vendors will use to differentiate their offerings, by embracing a diverse set of projects.
“With the integrated release, the OpenStack Technical Committee made the decision if a project was ready and mature,” McLoughlin said.
He added that the inclusion of a project in the integrated OpenStack release was a signal to downstream OpenStack distribution vendors to consider adopting a given project.
“Now that signal is gone,” McLoughlin said. “So it’s really up to every downstream distribution to make decisions like that for themselves.”
Watch the full video with Mark McLoughlin below:
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.