Open Source "Cloud Native" Container-Based Computing Project Grows

The Linux Foundation has announced the first big steps of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, which aims to deliver container-based, micro services-ready applications for open source cloud computing.

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation was created in July 2015 with the goal of advancing “the state-of-the-art for building cloud native applications and services, allowing developers to take full advantage of existing and to-be-developed open source technologies.” The organization is a Linux Foundation collaborative project that brings together a number of companies with a stake in the open source cloud.

By cloud native, the organization means software that is written from the start to run in the cloud — as opposed to applications developed for traditional environments that are later ported to the cloud. The project sees containerization and micro service compatibility as the keys to cloud-native computing.

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation is not the first project to build such applications and services, but the Linux Foundation says the initiative sets itself apart through its focus on interoperability and open standards. Cloud computing today “is resource intensive, requiring companies to assemble a team of experts that can integrate disparate technologies and maintain all of them,” the Linux Foundation said. “The Cloud Native Computing Foundation seeks to improve the overall developer experience, paving the way for faster code reuse, improved machine efficiency, reduced costs and increases in the overall agility and maintainability of applications.”

While the project, as noted above, has been around since earlier this year, it took a significant step forward this week with the announcement of new members (here’s the full list) and its governance structure. In addition, the project has taken the first concrete steps toward building a platform, which it says will likely include contributions from the open source Kubernetes, etcd and flannel platforms.